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UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY                         1 

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THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 
IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 


MARJORIE  PATTEN 


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http://www.archive.org/details/countrychurchinsOOmastiala 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN 
COLONIAL  COUNTIES 


TO   THE   ORIGINAL    AMERICAN 
The  fine  bronze  statue  in  Lake  George  Park 


COMMITTEE  ON  SOCIAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  SURVEYS 

TOWN    AND   COUNTRY   DEPARTMENT 

Edmund  deS.  Brunner,  Director 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH 

IN 
COLONIAL   COUNTIES 

AS  ILLUSTRATED  BY 

ADDISON  COUNTY,  VT,  TOMPKINS  COUNTY,  N.  Y. 

AND  WARREN  COUNTY,  N.  Y. 

BY 

MARJORIE  PATTEN 


WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS 
MAPS  AND  CHARTS 


42716 


NEW  XSJr   YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


COPYRIGHT,    1922, 
BY  GEORGE    H.    DORAN    COMPANY 


PRINTED  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 


6/ 


PREFACE 

THE  Committee  on  Social  and  Religious  Surveys  was  organized 
in  January,  1921.  Its  aim  is  to  combine  the  scientific  method 
with  the  religious  motive.  The  Committee  conducts  and 
publishes  studies  and  surveys  and  promotes  conferences  for  their 
consideration.  It  cooperates  with  other  social  and  religious  agen- 
cies, but  is  itself  an  indei>endent  organization. 

The  Committee  is  composed  of :  John  R.  Mott,  Chairman ; 
Ernest  D.  Burton,  Secretary;  Raymond  B.  Fosdick,  Treasurer; 
James  L.  Barton  and  W.  H.  P.  Faunce.  Galen  M.  Fisher  is  Asso- 
ciate Executive  Secretary.  The  offices  are  at  11 1  Fifth  Avenue, 
New  York  City. 

In  the  field  of  town  and  country  the  Committee  sought  first  of 
all  to  conserve  some  of  the  results  of  the  surveys  made  l)y  the  Inter- 
church  World  Movement.  In  order  to  verify  some  of  these  surveys, 
it  carried  on  field  studies,  described  later,  along  regional  lines  worked 
out  by  Dr.  Warren  H.  Wilson  *  and  adopted  by  the  Interchurch 
World  Movement.    These  regions  are : 

I.  Colonial  States:  All  of  New  England,  New  York,  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  Jersey. 

II.  The  South :  All  the  States  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line  and  the  Ohio  River  east  of  the  Mississippi,  including  Louisiana. 

III.  The  Southern  Highlands  Section :  This  section  comprises 
about  250  counties  in  "The  back  yards  of  eight  Southern  States." 

IV.  The  Middle  West :  The  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan, 
Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  northern  Missouri. 

V.  Northwest :  Minnesota,  North  Dakota,  South  Dakota  and 
eastern  Montana. 

VI.  Prairie :  Oklahoma,  Kansas  and  Nebraska. 

VII.  Southwest:    Southern   Missouri,   Arkansas   and   Texas. 

VIII.  Range  or  Mountain :  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  Utah,  Colo- 
rado, Idaho,  Wyoming,  Nevada  and  western  Montana. 

The  Director  of  the  Town  and  Country  Survey  Department  for 
the  Interchurch  World  Movement  was  Edmund  deS.  Brunncr.  He 
is  likewise  the  Director  of  this  Department  for  the  Committee  on 
Social  and  Religious  Surveys. 

*  See  Wilson,  "Sectional   Oiaracteristics,"  Homelands,  August,    1920. 

V 


PREFACE 

The  original  surveys  were  conducted  under  the  supervision  of 
the  following: 

Addison  County — Mr.  Charles  O.  Gill,  State  Supervisor  of  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement,  Hartland,  Vermont. 

Tompkins  County — Rev.  Henry  Strong  Huntington,  State  Super- 
visor of  Interchurch  World  Movement,  New  York  City ;  Prof. 
Dwight  Sanderson,  of  New  York  State  College  of  Agriculture  at 
Cornell  University;  Dr.  W.  L.  Thompson;  J.  A.  Moore;  P.  L. 
Dunn,  and  others.  In  the  spring  of  1921  the  field  worker.  Miss 
Marjorie  Patten,  of  the  Committee  on  Social  and  Religious  Surveys, 
visited  these  counties,  brought  up  to  date  the  work  previously  done, 
and  obtained  information  missing  in  the  original  study. 

Warren  County,  New  York,  was  surveyed  in  the  fall  of  1921 
by  the  field  workers  from  the  Committee,  Benson  Y.  Landis  and 
Marjorie  Patten. 

Acknowledgment  should  be  made  to  Rev.  Edmond  Twitchell,  of 
Glens  Falls,  for  the  helpful  cooperation  and  assistance  rendered  in 
the  successful  completion  of  the  survey. 

The  statistical  and  graphical  editor  of  this  volume  was  Mr.  A. 
H.  Richardson,  of  the  Chief  Statistician's  Division  of  the  American 
Telephone  and  Telegraph  Company,  formerly  connected  with  the 
Russell  Sage  Foundation. 

The  technical  adviser  was  Mr.  H.  N.  Morse,  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Home  Missions,  who  was  also  associate  director  of  the 
Town  and  Country  Survey  in  the  Interchurch  World  Movement. 

Valuable  help  was  given  by  the  Home  Missions  Council ;  by  the 
Council  of  Women  for  Home  Missions  through  their  sub-Committee 
on  Town  and  Country,  and  by  a  Committee  appointed  jointly  by  the 
Home  Missions  Council  and  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches  for 
the  purpose  of  cooperating  with  the  Committee  on  Social  and  Reli- 
gious Surveys  in  endeavoring  to  translate  the  results  of  the  survey 
into  action.  The  members  of  this  Joint  Committee  on  Utilizing 
Surveys  are: 

Representing  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches 
Anna  Clark  C.  N.  Lathrop 

Roy  B.  Guild  U.  L.  Mackey 

A.  E.  Holt  A.  E.  Roberts 

F,  Ernest  Johnson  Fred  B.  Smith 

Charles  E.  Schaeffer 


PREFACE 

Representing  the  Home  ]\Iissions  Council  and  the  Council  of  Women 
for  Home  Missions 

L.  C.  Barnes,  Chairman 
Rodney  W.  Roundy,  Secretary 
Alfred  W.  Anthony  Rolvix  Harlan 

Mrs.  Fred  S.  Bennett  R.  A.  Hutchison 

C.  A.  Brooks  Florence  E.  Quinlan 

C.  E.  Burton  W.  P.  Shriver 

A.  E.  Cory  Paul  L.  Vogt 

David  D.  Forsyth  Warren  H.  Wilson 


Vll 


INTRODUCTION 

THE    POINT    OF    VIEW 

THIS  book  is  a  study  of  the  work  of  Protestant  town  and  coun- 
try churches  in  three  counties  in  New  England  and  New 
York.  Its  purpose  is  to  show  the  effect  of  prosperity  upon 
the  life  of  the  Church  by  describing  the  interaction  of  the  Church 
upon  these  communities  and  of  these  communities  upon  the  Church. 
This  survey  does  not,  therefore,  attempt  to  deal  directly  with  the 
spiritual  effect  of  any  church  upon  the  life  of  individuals  or  groups. 
Such  results  are  not  measureable  by  the  foot-rule  of  statistics  or 
by  survey  methods.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  weigh  the  concrete 
accomplishments  of  churches.  These  actual  achievements  are  their 
fruits  and  "by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them." 

The  three  counties  studies  in  this  book  are  Addison,  Vermont, 
and  Tompkins  and  Warren,  New  York.  Many  considerations  en- 
tered into  their  choice.  For  one  thing,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  this  book,  while  complete  in  itself,  is  also  part  of  a  larger  whole. 
From  among  the  one  thousand  county  surveys  completed  or  nearly 
completed  by  the  Interchurch  World  Movement,  twenty-six  counties 
situated  in  the  nine  most  representative  rural  regions  of  America 
were  selected  for  intensive  study.  In  this  way  it  was  hoped  to  obtain 
a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  religious  situation  as  it  exists  in  the  more 
rural  areas  of  the  United  States.  All  the  counties  selected  were 
chosen  with  the  idea  that  they  were  fair  specimens  of  what  was  to  be 
found  throughout  the  area  of  which  they  were  a  part. 

In  selecting  the  counties  an  effort  was  made  to  discover  those 
which  were  typical  not  merely  from  a  statistical  standpoint  but  also 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  social  and  religious  problems  they 
repre.sented.  For  example,  the  three  counties  in  New  England  and 
New  York  describe<l  in  this  pamphlet  were  chosen  because  they  are 
representative  of  large  sections  throughout  the  Colonial  area. 

It  is  recognized  that  there  are  reasons  why  exceptions  may  be 
taken  to  the  choice  of  counties.  No  area  is  completely  ty]Mcal  of 
every  situation.  A  careful  study  of  these  counties  leads,  however, 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  are  fair  specimens  of  the  region  they 
are  intended  to  represent. 


INTRODUCTION 

All  these  studies  have  been  made  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
church,  recognizing,  however,  that  social  and  economic  conditions 
affect  its  life.  For  instance,  it  is  evident  that  various  racial  groups 
influence  church  life  differently.  Germans  and  Swedes  usually  tend 
toward  liturgical  denominations ;  the  Scotch  to  non-liturgical.  Again, 
if  there  are  economic  pressure  and  heavy  debt,  the  church  faces 
spiritual  handicaps  and  needs  a  peculiar  type  of  ministry.  Because 
of  the  importance  of  social  and  economic  factors  in  the  life  of  the 
Church  the  opening  chapters  of  this  book  have  been  given  over  to 
a  description  of  these  factors.  At  the  first  glance  some  of  these  facts 
may  appear  irrelevant,  but  upon  closer  observation  they  will  be  found 
to  have  a  bearing  upon  the  main  theme — the  problem  of  the  Church. 

Naturally  the  greatest  amount  of  time  and  study  has  been  de- 
voted to  the  churches  themselves.  Their  history,  equipment  and 
finances ;  their  members,  services  and  church  organizations ;  their 
Sunday  schools,  young  people's  societies  and  community  programs, 
have  all  been  carefully  investigated  and  evaluated. 

Intensive  investigation  has  been  limited  to  the  distinctively 
rural  areas  and  to  those  centers  of  population  which  have  less  than 
5,000  inhabitants.  In  the  case  of  towns  larger  than  this  an  effort  has 
been  made  to  measure  the  service  of  such  towns  to  the  surrounding 
countryside,  but  not  to  study  each  church  and  community  in  detail. 

The  material  in  this  book  itself  will  present  a  composite  picture 
of  the  religious  conditions  within  these  three  counties.  Certain 
major  problems  which  were  found  with  more  or  less  frequency  in 
all  three  counties  are  discussed  as  problems  and  all  available  infor- 
mation from  any  of  the  counties  has  been  incorporated  within  such 
discussion.  The  opening  pages  of  the  book  give,  however,  a  summary 
of  the  condition  within  each  county.  While  this  method  has  obvious 
drawbacks,  it  is  felt  that  these  are  outweighed  by  the  advantages 
and  that  this  treatment  is  the  best  one  possible  to  bring  out  the 
peculiar  conditions  existing  throughout  this  area.  The  appendices 
present  the  methodology  of  the  survey  and  the  definitions  employed. 
They  also  include  in  tabular  form  the  major  facts  of  each  county  as 
revealed  by  the  investigation.  These  appendices  are  intended  espe- 
cially to  meet  the  needs  of  church  executives  and  students  of  soci- 
ology who  desire  to  carry  investigation  further  than  is  possible  in  the 
type  of  presentation  used  for  the  main  portion  of  the  book. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    The   Northern   Colonial  Area 17 

II    The  Three  Counties 20 

III  The  Churches 28 

IV  Social  Agencies  and  Activities 39 

V    Folk  Depletion  and  Missed  Opportunities     .     .  44 

VI     Foreigners  on  the  Land 55 

VII    The  Problem  of  the  Summer  Resort     ....  57 

VIII     What  Do  the  Young   People   Need?    ....  60 

IX     Over-  and  Underchurciiing     .......  64 

X    One  Way  Out — Church  Federation  and  the  Ver- 
mont Plan 68 

XI     New  Rudders  for  Old  Ships 71 

XII    The  Hand  of  the  Dead 75 

XIII  A  Backward  Look 17 

XIV  Concerning  the  Rural  Pastor 83 

XV    Conclusion 86 

Appendices 

I  Methodology  and  Definitions 93 

II  Tables 97 


XI 


ILLUSTRATIONS,  MAPS  AND  CHARTS 

ILLUSTRATIONS 
To  THE  Original  American Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Typical  New  England 21 

Where  Boston  Gets  Its  Milk 22 

A  Beauty  Spot  of  New  England 23 

Where  Farmers  Are  Prosperous 24 

The  Hub  of  the  County 26 

A  Reminder  of  Early  Days 28 

True  to  Architectural  Type 32 

Transportation  De  Luxe 39 

Quite  Happy,  Thank  You! .      .  40 

Does  It  Pay  to  Advertise? o     .  42 

An  Up-to-Date  Farmer 45 

Where  Education  Lags 46 

A  Versatile  Pastor 62 

One  Side  of  a  Village  Square 64 

Growth  and  Decay .  65 

A  Rural  Library y2 

A  Live  Church  in  Tompkins  County 81 

The    Only    Community-Minded    Church     in     Warren 

County 90 

MAPS 

New  York  and  Vermont:  Locating  the  Three  Counties  18 
Church  and  Community  Map  of  Addison  County,  Vt.  30-31 
Church  and  Community  Map  of  Tompkins  County,  N.  Y.  34-35 

Church  and  Community  Map  of  Warren  County,  N.  Y.  37 

xiii 


ILLUSTRATIONS,  MAPS  AND  CHARTS 

CHARTS 

PAGE 

I     How  THE  Typical  Dollar  is  Raised 36 

II     The  Churches  and  Their  Memberships       ...  50 

III  Gain  and  Loss  in  Membership 51 

IV  Gain  and  Loss  in  Membership     ,      .      .            ,      .  51 

V     How  the  Church  Dollar  is  Raised  .....  75 

VI     Comparative  Trends  of  Population,  Church  Mem- 
bership and  Attendance 78 

VII     How  THE  Diminishing  Dollar  is  Spent     ...  81 

VIII     Salary  Scale  of  the  Ministers 84 

IX     Distribution  of  Membership 87 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN 
COLONIAL  COUNTIES 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH    IN 
COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

Chapter  I 
THE  NORTHERN  COLONIAL  AREA 

THE  Colonial  area  was  the  birthplace  and  childhood  home  of  a 
great  nation.  It  was  here  that  young  America  received  her 
early  education,  when  the  rest  of  the  country  was  a  wilderness. 
The  early  colonists  were  a  stern  folk,  apt  to  be  harsh  in  creed, 
gloomy  in  viewpoint,  intolerant  in  religion,  but  they  were  enterpris- 
ing, fearless  and  filled  with  indomitable  will  to  succeed.  They  were 
leaders  in  trade  and  unmatched  in  political  sagacity.  Their  code  of 
living  was  established  on  a  rock  foundation  of  lofty  ideals,  sound 
principles  and,  most  of  all,  love  of  home  and  fear  of  God. 

America  has  long  since  emerged  victorious  from  her  early 
struggles  and  taken  her  place  among  the  great  nations  of  the  world. 
Today  in  the  old  Colonial  area,  which  still  serves  as  a  living  example 
to  American  civilization,  it  is  amazing  to  behold  the  transformation 
three  centuries  have  wrought.  No  longer  is  agriculture  supreme. 
Here  are  cities,  great  and  small,  with  congested  population  and  mam- 
moth industries  holding  multitudes  in  their  grip.  Here  is  the  na- 
tion's greatest  trade  area,  the  very  core  of  its  tremendous  industrial 
and  financial  development.  These  changes  have  brought  their  prob- 
lems, not  alone  in  the  growing  cities,  but  in  the  country  at  whose  ex- 
pense so  much  of  urban  civilization  has  been  built.  It  was  in  the 
Colonial  area  and  especially  in  New  England  that  the  "rural  prob- 
lem" first  lifted  its  head  and  forced  itself  upon  the  attention.  But 
the  tide  of  rural  life  which  was  ebbing  has  begun  to  turn.  Transition 
and  reconstruction  are  in  process.  Rural  New  England  is  coming 
back,  not  to  ascendancy  but  to  a  proper  place  of  social  usefulness. 

The  present  volume  is  one  of  three  publications  dealing  with 
the  Colonial  area  and  describing  intensive  studies  made  of  six 
counties  which  together  fairly  typify  the  variety  of  its  rural  condi- 
tions. The  first  volume  treats  of  Salem  County,  New  Jersey,  studied 
as  typical  of  the  great  trucking  area.     Harford  County,  Maryland, 

17 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 


and  Columbia  County,  Pennsylvania,  are  the  subject  of  a  second 
publication.  These  two  counties  are  widely  separated  as  to  location 
but  show  striking  likenesses  and  contrasts.  In  the  former  the  popu- 
lation has  been  increased  by  a  recent  influx  of  farmers  from  the 
south,  and  during  a  normal  year  8,000  migrant  laborers  are  engaged 
in  its  seasonal  canneries.  In  the  Pennsylvania  county,  the  original 
stock  has  been  augmented  by  foreign  immigration  to  its  anthracite 
coal  mines  and  to  the  industries  of  its  two  cities.  Both  counties 
are  progressive  and  primarily  agricultural  in  their  make-up.  The 
three  counties  considered  in  this  volume  are  Addison  County,  Ver- 
mont, a  general  farming  region  in  the  fertile  valley  of  Lake  Cham- 


NEW    YORK    AND    VESJMONT 
Locating  the  Three  Counties 

plain;  Tompkins  County,  New  York,  a  typical  dairying  section  of 
central  New  York  State,  and  Warren  County,  New  York,  one  of 
the  beauty  spots  of  the  Adirondack  mountains. 

Certain  characteristic  problems  are  common  to  these  three  coun- 
ties. Certain  others  are  distinctive,  and  others  again  are  important 
for  the  light  they  shed  on  the  evolution  of  American  rural  life.  All 
three  counties  have  suffered  depletion  of  population.  Communities 
big  and  little,  have  felt  the  pull  of  industry  toward  the  larger  centers. 
With  the  revolutionizing  influence  of  the  automobile,  better  roads 
have  been  built.  Isolation  has  been  greatly  lessened.  Markets  have 
been  brought  nearer  to  the  gardener.  Towns  which  formerly  be- 
lieved themselves  a  great  way  off  from  anywhere  have  suddenly 

18 


THE  NORTHERN  COLONIAL  AREA 

found  themselves  closely  connected  with  the  outside  world.  The 
"Pied  Piper"  call  of  the  cities,  sounding  ever  louder  as  western  agri- 
cultural competition  increased,  has  made  many  oblivious  to  the  values 
of  New  England  agriculture,  so  that  it  is  relatively  in  an  undeveloped 
state.  The  Colonial  area  has  all  the  facilities  for  a  big  future  in 
the  open  country.  It  has  a  splendid  system  of  highways  and  it  has 
better  markets  than  any  area  in  America.  The  soil  is  far  from  ex- 
hausted and  is  capable  of  more  intensive  cultivation.  Agricultural 
colleges  are  relatively  more  numerous  than  elsewhere  and  are  well 
equipped. 

The  natural  beauty  of  this  area  has  been  responsible  for  the  an- 
nual pilgrimage  of  multitudes  of  pleasure-seekers  to  certain  favored 
regions,  a  circumstance  which  has  changed  the  entire  social  struc- 
ture of  some  rural  communities.  In  many  other  localities  the  coming 
of  the  foreigner  onto  the  land  has  created  a  new  order  in  every 
phase  of  community  life.  Much  has  been  heard  of  the  abandoned 
farms,  of  isolation  breeding  degeneracy,  of  fields  going  fallow,  of 
rural  life  tending  toward  the  development  of  a  backward  American 
peasantry.  The  other  side,  is  told  by  L.  H.  Bailey  in  "The  Country 
Life  Movement."  He  looks  forward  to  the  dawn  of  a  new  day  in 
agriculture  of  the  like  of  which  the  world  has  never  dreamed.  He 
says:  '*I  have  no  fear  of  the  abandoned  farms.  Little  of  the  older 
land  is  worn  out.  Some  of  the  best  farm  values  now  lie  in  the  old 
east  and  south.  In  some  cases  farms  are  not  being  abandoned 
rapidly  enough,  but  they  will  all  be  used  in  good  time,  and  we  shall 
need  them."  His  prophecy  has  begun  to  be  fulfilled.  Evidences  of 
reconstruction  are  seen  in  the  newly  developed  friendly  relationships 
between  town  and  country ;  in  the  scientific  reforestation  and  culti- 
vation of  the  soil ;  in  the  effective  activities  of  the  agricultural  agen- 
cies, and  also  in  the  very  spirit  of  the  farmers  themselves.  It  is  with 
the  effect  of  these  changes  upon  the  social  and  especially  upon  the 
religious  life  that  this  study  will  deal. 

These  counties  also  illustrate  many  of  the  problems  which  char- 
acteristically beset  country  churches  in  a  changing  social  and  eco- 
nomic order.  Here  we  have  the  familiar  story  of  declining  influ- 
ence, of  weak  organizations  insufficiently  manned  and  poorly 
equipped,  of  a  shifting  pastorate  meagerly  paid,  of  fields  over- 
churched  and  fields  overlooked,  of  inadcfiuate  programs  and  a  too 
easy  acceptance  of  the  limitations  of  a  difficult  situation.  But  the 
survey  also  reveals  various  roads  of  progress  opening  before  the 
churches  which  are  prepared  to  follow  them  and  has  examples  to 
cite  of  churches  which  have  found  the  way  out. 

19 


Chapter  II 
THE  THREE  COUNTIES 

TYPICAL  NEW  ENGLAND 

OF  the  three  counties  under  consideration,  Addison  is  the  most 
typical  of  "The  Man  with  the  Hoe."  It  is  entirely  rural  in 
its  make-up.  Middlebury,  the  largest  community  and  county 
seat,  has  less  than  3,000  inhabitants  and  though  it  is  the  hub  of  the 
entire  county  and  the  center  of  its  culture,  industry  and  social  life, 
it  is  still  essentially  a  farmers'  town.  Wander  along  the  main 
street,  with  its  huge  elms ;  observe  through  their  branches  the  proud, 
slender  spire  of  the  sturdy  Colonial  church  keeping  watch  over  the 
village  from  the  brow  of  the  hill ;  stop  a  moment  and  count  the  sleepy 
farm  horses  waiting  patiently  at  the  line  of  old-time  hitching  posts 
by  the  Common.  This  is  New  England  indeed.  The  traveler  looking 
out  over  the  county  in  its  entirety  is  reminded  of  the  old  Shake- 
spearian stage  with  its  three  distinct  levels.  The  Green  Mountains 
and  the  heavily  forested  hills  rise  out  of  the  east.  The  central  level 
presents  rolling  lands,  steep,  stony  hillsides  and  pastures  within  the 
limits  of  whose  scraggly  stone  walls  graze  numerous  cattle.  The 
western  level  slopes  gently  down  to  the  rich,  fertile  valley  of  Lake 
Champlain,  whose  farms  are  the  pride  of  all  New  England. 

The  early  history  of  this  region  is  marked  by  the  many  quarrels 
of  Iroquois  and  Algonquins  whose  homes  and  favorite  hunting 
grounds  bordered  the  shores  of  Lake  Champlain.  The  first  white 
settlement  was  made  in  1731  at  Chimney  Point,  in  what  is  now  the 
town  of  Addison.  The  county  remembers  scenes  played  upon  her 
stage  by  the  Green  Mountain  boys  and  by  such  heroes  as  Ethan 
Allen  and  Commodore  MacDonough.  Vergennes  was  the  site  of  the 
speedy  building  of  the  fleet  with  which  MacDonough  defeated  the 
British  at  Plattsburgh  in  1814.  Tradition,  history  and  romance 
cluster  thick  about  this  beautiful  valley,  through  which  the  tides  of 
war  and  trade  and  travel  have  surged  back  and  forth  for  three  hun- 
dred years.  As  industry  succeeded  conflict,  the  rough  lands  were 
made  productive,  and  now  for  nearly  a  century  this  region  has  been 
a  center  of  peaceful  communities. 

Immigration  did  not  start  in  earnest  until  after  the  signing  of 

20 


THE  THREE  COUNTIES 

the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Then  settlers  began  to  pour  into 
the  valley,  lured  by  the  fertility  of  the  soil  and  the  possibilities  for 
mills  and  industry  afforded  by  the  heavy  forests  and  the  splendid 
water  power  of  Otter  Creek.  In  the  first  census,  taken  in  1791,  six 
years  after  the  organization  of  Addison  County,  there  were  6,489 


iil'iLAL   NtW    Ei\(.l.AM. 

Congregational  Church  at  Middlebury,  Vt. 

inhabitants.  From  that  time  up  to  1880  the  population  steadily  in- 
creased. Since  then  there  has  been,  however,  a  decline  of  30  per 
cent.,  checked  only  by  the  influx  of  French  Canadians  who  have 
bought  so  many  of  the  old  farms. 

Addison  County  is  primarily  agricultural.  The  land  is  well 
drained  by  the  several  small  rivers  and  streams  which  rise  in  the 
eastern  hills  and  flow  in  a  westerly  direction  to  empty  into  Lake 

21 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

Champlain.  Buckwheat  flourishes  and  nature  has  wisely  provided 
plenty  of  maple  syrup,  which,  the  nation  knows,  is  second  to  none. 
Dairying  is  the  chief  industry  and  quantities  of  milk  are  shipped  to 
Boston  and  New  York.  Hay  and  forage  are  important  money  crops. 
This  is  the  home  of  the  Morgan  horse,  and  the  "banner  county"  for 
the  raising  of  Merino  sheep.  Farms  occupy  more  than  three-fourths 
of  the  land  area.  One  of  the  chief  handicaps  to  the  county's  growth 
and  progress  is  its  lack  of  adequate  transportation  facilities,  there 
being  only  one  railroad  in  its  entire  area.  The  summer  tourist  has 
done  much  to  bring  about  the  improvement  of  highways,  which  for 
the  most  part  are  very  good,  though.  45  per  cent,  are  common  dirt 


WHERE   BOSTON   GETS    ITS    MILK 
The  Sheffield  Milk  Station,  Vergennes'  largest  industrial   plant 

roads.  Industry  centers  only  in  the  larger  communities  and  consists 
of  marble-dressing  and  the  manufacture  of  lumber  and  lumber 
products. 

So  it  is  that  Addison  County  makes  its  strongest  appeal  to  the 
nature  lover  and  the  true  countryman.  It  is  a  land  of  splendid  tra- 
ditions, of  mountains,  forests  and  picturesque  drives,  and  above  all, 
of  well  developed  farms. 


A    CROSS   SECTION    OF   AGRICULTURAL    NEW    YORK 

In  the  very  heart  of  the  Finger  Lakes  region  in  south-central  New 
York  is  a  high  plateau  cut  by  many  picturesque  gorges  and  glens. 
This  is  Tompkins  County,  with  a  land  area  of  476  square  miles. 

22 


THE  THREE  COUNTIES 

Roughly  speaking,  there  are  two  types  of  land  in  the  county.  On  the 
south,  the  country  is  hilly  but  the  tops  of  these  hills  are  nearly  level, 
though  their  slopes  are  steep  and  even  precipitous  as  they  drop  down 
toward  the  deeply  cut  valleys.     In  the  north  the  country  is  more 


A    BEAUTY    STOT   OF    NEW    ENGLAND 

gently  rolling.  Cayuga  Lake  occupies  a  deep  gorge  in  the  northwest 
and  receives  the  stream  drainage  of  the  greater  part  of  the  area.  At 
the  head  of  the  lake  is  Ithaca,  a  city  of  17,000  inhabitants  and  the 
county  seat  from  whose  hilltops  stretches  a  panorama  of  lake,  hill  and 
valley  that  once  seen  is  never  to  be  forgotten.    Ten  miles  north  of 

23 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

Ithaca  are  the  famous  Bridal  Veil  Falls,  dropping  220  feet  into  a 
gorge  which  is  more  than  a  mile  long. 

The  district  around  the  southern  end  of  Cayuga  Lake  was  the 
home  of  the  Indians  of  the  same  name,  one  of  the  tribes  of  the 
Iroquois  Confederation.  There  was  some  travel  through  the  district 
before  the  Revolution  but  no  permanent  settlement.  In  1779  Gen- 
eral Sullivan's  expedition  passed  through  here  and  camped  on  the 
present  site  of  the  city  of  Ithaca. 

In  this  most  picturesque  spot  eleven  men  from  Kingston,  New 
York,  began  the  first  settlement  in  what  is  now  Tompkins  County. 
This  was  in  1789.     The  county  was  organized  in  181 7  and  named 


WHERE    FARMERS    ARE    PROSPEROUS 
High  School  at  Dryden  in  the  best  farming  district  of  Tompkins  County 

for  Daniel  Tompkins,  a  governor  of  the  State.  The  early  settlers 
came  principally  from  counties  of  the  lower  Hudson  Valley  and 
some  from  New  England  and  New  Jersey.  The  maximum  popula- 
tion was  reached  in  the  year  1840.  Decline  from  that  peak  has  been 
checked  considerably  by  the  recent  immigration  of  western  farmers, 
and  also  of  a  few  foreigners.  Most  of  the  latter  are  engaged  in  in- 
dustry, though  some  are  on  farms,  especially  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  county.     These  include  Bohemians,  Finns  and  Poles. 

From  an  agricultural  standpoint,  Tompkins  County  is  a  fair 
average  of  the  counties  of  New  York  State,  lying  between  the  dairy- 
ing region  of  eastern  New  York,  the  fruit  section  of  western  New 
York  and  the  grain  and  alfalfa  section  of  central  New  York.    The 

24 


THE  THREE  COUNTIES 

soil  of  the  southern  part  of  the  county  is  not  naturally  fertile,  but 
some  of  the  foreigners  have  successfully  demonstrated  that  under 
careful  management  it  can  produce  good  crops.  The  northern  half 
of  the  county  is  richer  by  nature,  its  most  important  products  being 
milk,  hay,  potatoes,  buckwheat,  fruit,  eggs,  corn,  wheat  and  oats. 

Ithaca  is  the  hub  of  the  county.  It  furnishes  a  splendid  market 
for  farm  products,  particularly  for  fruits  and  vegetables.  The  bulk 
of  the  industrial  activity  of  the  county  is  carried  on  here,  though  the 
industries  of  Groton,  Myers  and  Portland  Point  together  employ 
about  an  equal  number  of  workers,  Ithaca  is  not  only  the  center  of 
business  and  educational  interests  but  it  is  a  city  of  homes.  High 
above  the  city,  overlooking  Lake  Cayuga,  stands  Cornell  University 
on  the  most  beautiful  campus  in  America.  This  consists  of  nearly 
1,500  acres  on  which  there  are  thirty-five  main  buildings.  Nearly 
6,000  students  spend  the  college  year  here  and  the  summer  session 
and  other  courses  enroll  3,000  more.  Here  is  also  the  New  York 
State  College  of  Agriculture,  which  has  an  international  reputation 
and  has  had  a  large  influence  on  the  agriculture  of  the  county. 

A  tourists'  paradise 

At  Glens  Falls,  the  imposing  front  entrance  to  Warren  County, 
someone  remarked:  "Have  you  traveled  through  our  entire  county? 
Then  you  have  beheld  scenery  that  is  not  surpassed  this  side  of 
Switzerland."  This  section  may  well  be  called  "The  Tourist's 
Paradise"  for  here  are  the  beauty  of  the  Adirondacks  and  the  charm 
of  historic  Lake  George  and  of  the  smaller  inland  lakes  with  their 
wooded  shores. 

The  forest  lands  have  made  Warren  County  what  it  is,  for  they 
have  supplied  timber  for  the  finely  developed  industries  of  Glens 
Falls  and  the  cities  further  south  along  the  Hudson.  It  is  to  these 
same  lands  that  the  county  turns  for  its  future  when  tlie  forests  shall 
again  have  grown  to  usefulness.  Agriculture  will  never  be  highly 
developed  here,  for  the  soil  is  sandy,  and  where  there  is  fertility 
pine  grows  up  in  abundance,  defying  successful  production  of  any 
other  crop.  Nature  has  been  prodigal  with  beaiUy,  l)ut  frugal  in 
giving  fertility  to  the  soil,  so  that  while  the  summer  resort  in- 
dustry flourishes  and  provides  a  not  difficult  means  of  livelihood, 
farming  seems  a  continued  struggle  to  wrest  a  mere  existence  from 
an  obstinate  land. 

Warren  County  was  formed  from  Washington  County  in  1813, 
and  contains  876  square  miles  of  rugged  mountain  and  valley  lands. 

25 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

In  the  southern  half  of  the  region  there  are  productive  level  lands 
and  here  the  dairying  industry  has  become  of  prime  importance. 
In  the  early  days  this  w^as  the  hunting  ground  of  the  Iroquois  In- 
dians of  whose  struggles  vivid  tales  are  told.  History  recounts  the 
dramatic  coming  of  the  Half  Moon,  north,  up  the  Hudson,  and  of 
Champlain,  south,  down  the  Sorel,  the  English  following  the  one 
and  the  French  the  other.  The  war  cries  that  rang  through  the 
forests  as  a  result  of  the  ensuing  clash  of  interests,  were  not  finally 
silenced  until  after  the  thirteen  colonies  became  one  nation.  Until 
1789  this  was  frontier  land,  fit  for  forays,  but  not  safe  for  settle- 


THE    HUB   OF    THE   COUNTY 
Picturesque  and  conservative  old  Chestertown,  a  favorite  summer  resort  in  Warren  County 

ment.  After  the  signing  of  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  the  Governor  of 
New  York  issued  a  proclamation  welcoming  settlers,  and  sturdy  New 
Englanders  began  to  migrate  to  the  region  until,  in  1813,  there  were 
8,000  inhabitants. 

From  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  to  1910  the  population  steadily 
increased.  During  the  last  decade  every  community  except  Glens 
Falls  has,  however,  decreased  considerably.  The  original  stock  is 
dying  out.  There  is  little  immigration  and  scarcely  any  foreigners 
are  found  outside  of  Glens  Falls.  The  county  is  handicapped  by 
poor  railroad  facilities,  though  the  Hudson  Valley  Electric  Line 
connects  Glens  Falls  with  Lake  George  and  Warrensburg  and  with 
the  cities  to  the  south.  The  Delaware  and  Hudson  Railroad  runs 
through  the  central  part  of  the  county  terminating  at  North  Creek. 

Highways  are  splendid.  The  main  thoroughfare  from  New 
York  City  to  Montreal  passes  through  this  area,  and  one  may  sit 
on  the  hotel  veranda  at  Chestertown  and  see  auto  licenses  from  al- 
most everv  state  in  the  Union,  as  the  cars  go  by  in  endless  procession. 

26 


THE  THREE  COUNTIES 

At  Lake  George  is  the  throat  of  the  great  system  through  which  all 
north-bound  traffic  must  pass. 

The  industrial  development  of  Warren  County  belongs  to  Glens 
Falls,  where  there  are  at  present  sixty-eight  establishments  em- 
ploying more  than  3,000  people.  The  rest  of  the  county  is  largely 
holiday  country,  busy  in  summer  and  quiet  in  winter.  Thirty  per 
cent,  of  the  population  are  engaged  in  lumbering,  but  the  summer 
industry  reigns  supreme  in  this  Adirondack  region. 


27 


Chapter  III 
THE  CHURCHES 

ADDISON    COUNTY 

THE  Congregationalists  organized  the  first  church  in  Addison 
County  in  1785  and  before  1800  fifteen  churches  had  been 
built.  Detailed  figures  regarding  the  religious  life  of  the 
county  began  with  the  Federal  Census  of  1890.  At  this  time  there 
were  7,014  church  members  of  all  denominations  in  a  population  of 


A    REMINDER   OF    EARLY    DAYS 
The  Congregational  Church  at  Shoreham,  Vt.,  whose  organization  dates  back  to   1790 

22,277.  Iri  1906  there  were  7,565  members,  of  whom  more  than  50 
per  cent,  were  Roman  Catholics.  At  the  end  of  the  next  decade  the 
Roman  Catholic  membership  had  decreased  somewhat  and  the  total 
church  membership  numbered  7,581.  During  the  last  ten  years, 
though  the  population  of  the  county  has  decreased  6.7  per  cent.,  the 
total  Protestant  membership  has  increased  14  per  cent. 

At  present  there  are  forty  active  Protestant  church  organiza- 
tions, all  but  one  of  which  were  organized  before  1881.  Thirteen 
of  these  are  located  in  villages  of  from  250  to  2,500  inhabitants  and 

28 


THE  CHURCHES 

the  other  twenty-seven  are  in  smaller  hamlets  or  in  open  country  dis- 
tricts. All  of  the  churches  serve  a  population  dependent  in  one 
way  or  another  upon  farming.  There  are  also  six  Roman  Catholic 
churches,  the  congregations  of  which  exceed  the  total  Protestant 
church  membership.  There  is  one  Protestant  church  for  every  467 
people.  Except  in  one  or  two  villages,  there  is  little  overchurching, 
and  there  is  very  little  territory  which  is  not  included  within  the 
parish  area  of  some  church.  All  of  the  organizations  own  their 
church  buildings,  which  have  an  average  value  of  $15,154  for 
village  churches  and  $7,101  for  country  churches.  All  of  the  village 
and  nineteen  of  the  country  churches  own  parsonages  which  they 
endeavor  to  keep  occupied.  Church  property  is  for  the  most  part 
in  splendid  condition. 

Thirty-one  pastors  serve  these  Protestant  churches,  five  of  whom 
carry  on  some  other  occupation  in  addition  to  the  ministry.  One 
church  has  no  regular  pastor  but  is  served  at  present  by  a  student. 
Every  village  has  a  resident  pastor  and  three-fourths  of  all  the 
churches  have  pastors  resident  within  their  parishes,  an  unusually 
good  showing.  Most  of  the  pastors  receive  salaries  which  range 
from  $1,250  to  $1,450,  if  $250  be  added  to  the  cash  salary  as  the 
estimated  yearly  value  of  a  free  parsonage  when  provided.  The 
maximum  salary  is  $2,050  and  the  minimum  is  $750.  The  average  is 
$1,404  for  those  giving  full  time  to  the  ministry  and  $1,031  for  those 
also  carrying  on  some  other  occupation.  Here  as  elsewhere  pastoral 
changes  are  frequent.  Twenty-nine  churches  have  changed  pastors 
every  three  years  or  oftener.  Sixteen  pastors,  or  42  per  cent,  of 
the  total  number,  report  that  they  have  been  in  their  present  parishes 
one  year  or  less. 

The  total  membership  of  the  forty  churches  is  3,689,  of  which 
number  75  per  cent,  are  reported  resident  and  active.  Only  19  per 
cent,  are  under  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Addison  County's  churches 
are  above  the  average  for  a  rural  county  in  the  proportion  of  those 
having  systematic  financial  methods.  Twenty-six  churches  budget 
all  the  money  that  they  raise  and  five  others  use  a  budget  system 
in  raising  money  for  local  expenses.  The  average  per  capita  contri- 
bution for  the  entire  county  is  $17.61 — $17.15  for  village  and  $18.38 
for  open  country  churches. 

Foreigners  are  reported  residing  in  the  parishes  of  twenty-eight 
churches,  though  only  in  one  community  has  the  Protestant 
church  any  foreign  members.  Thirty-seven  churches  maintain 
Sunday  schools,  with  a  total  enrollment  equal  to  only  58  per  cent,  of 
the  total  church  membership.    On  a  typical  Sunday  a  little  more  than 

29 


X ^^ 


CHURCH    AND   COMMUNITY    MAP 


30 


OF  ADDISON   COUNTY,  VEKMONT 


31 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES       ; 

one-half  of  the  entire  enrolhnent  attends.  The  churches  do  not 
suffer  from  lack  of  services.  Only  three  hold  less  than  four  services 
a  month.    In  only  two  communities  are  union  services  held. 

Addison  County's  churches  are  facing  grave  problems  of  small 
memberships,  declining  attendance,  widespread  indifference  and  a 
lack  of  united  effort. 


TRUE    TO    ARCHITECTURAL    TYPE 
The  Congregational  Church  at  Cornwall,  Vt. 


TOMPKINS    COUNTY 

In  Tompkins  County  there  are  at  present,  outside  of  Ithaca,  fifty- 
seven  active  Protestant  churches,  one  mission,  one  non-denomina- 
tional organization  at  the  George  Junior  Republic,  one  inactive 
church,  four  separate  Sunday  schools,  a  Spiritualist  organization 
and  four  Roman  Catholic  churches  with  700  or  800  members. 

Religious  activities  began  here  at  an  early  date.  The  circuit 
riders  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  pastors  of  the 
Baptist,  Dutch  Reformed  and  Presbyterian  denominations  were 
early  on  the  ground.  In  many  cases  the  establishment  of  churches 
antedated  township  organization.  Methodism,  now  the  largest  de- 
nomination in  the  county,  struck  root  in  1797  when  the  first  church 
was  organized  at  Lansingville.  Thirty-three  other  churches  had 
their  beginnings  during  the  opening  decades  of  the  last  century. 
Since  the  Civil  War  church  organization  has  proceeded  very  slowly. 

Of  the  fifty-seven  Protestant  churches  twenty -two  are  in  villages 

32 


THE  CHURCHES 

and  thirty-five  in  hamlets  or  open  country.  Church  equipment  is 
above  the  average.  There  are  more  buildings  with  more  than  one 
room  than  is  usual  and  better  social  equipment  than  is  found  in 
the  average  county,  but  the  most  effective  use  has  not  been  made 
of  this  equipment. 

Thirteen  villages  and  sixteen  country  churches  use  the  budget 
system  for  raising  all  moneys.  Thirty-five  churches  make  an  an- 
nual every  member  canvass.  The  per  capita  contributions  of  village 
and  country  churches  are  $20.36  and  $17.91  respectively.  The 
county  average  is  $19.39. 

There  are  thirty-five  pastors  in  Tompkins  County.  Twenty-five 
churches  have  pastors  resident  in  their  parishes.  Twenty-eight 
churches  have  non-resident  pastors  and  four  are  at  present  pastor- 
less.  Only  eight  of  the  twenty-eight  communities  have  full-time 
resident  pastors.  Salaries  are  exceedingly  low,  the  average  being 
only  $1,177.56,  estimating  the  cash  value  of  a  free  parsonage, 
where  provided,  at  $250  a  year.  The  average  minister  receives  some- 
what more  than  this  mathematical  average  but  usually  not  in  excess 
of  $1,100  or  $1,200  and  free  use  of  a  house  or  its  equivalent. 

Most  pastors  regard  the  future  of  their  congregation  as  promis- 
ing. They  all  recognize,  however,  serious  problems,  among  them 
the  declining  and  changing  population,  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  pleasure  cars,  the  lack  of  resident  ministers  and  of  leadership 
and  cooperation  in  and  among  the  churches,  the  small  number  of 
young  people,  the  slowly  increasing  foreign  population  and  the  ex- 
isting overchurched  conditions. 

WARREN    COUNTY 

Warren  County  has  in  winter  one  church  to  every  354  inhabitants 
and  in  the  vacation  season  one  church  to  every  700  inhabitants.  This 
fact  furnishes  the  problem  that  is  foremost  in  the  religious  life  of 
the  county. 

The  first  religious  services  in  the  county  were  held  by  a  chaplain 
of  the  English  Army  which  was  encamped  along  the  shores  of  Lake 
George,  in  September,  1775.  The  earliest  permanent  settlers  were 
Friends  and  their  first  church  at  Bay  Road  dates  back  to  1785.  At 
present  there  are  forty-seven  Protestant  churches  and  seven  Roman 
Catholic  churches  in  the  county  outside  of  Glens  Falls.  There  are 
also  two  non-Evangelical  organizations,  three  missions,  one  unor- 
ganized church,  four  preaching  points  and  Sunday  schools,  four 
separate  Sunday  schools,  seven  inactive  and  seasonal  churches  and 

33 


CHURCH    AND    COMMUXITY    MAP 


34 


6c  ale    of  Miles 


OF  TOMPKINS  COUNTY,   N.  Y. 


35 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

nine  abandoned  churches.  Twenty  of  the  forty-seven  organized 
Protestant  churches  are  in  villages  and  twenty-seven  are  country 
churches.  Half  of  the  total  number  depend  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
on  the  summer  traffic.  Nine  different  denominations  are  represented, 
the  largest  number  of  churches,  fifteen,  belonging  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  There  are  eleven  communities  having  one  church 
each.  In  the  larger  centers  there  is,  however,  considerable  over- 
lapping of  parishes,  and  in  one  case  a  serious  overlapping  of  two 
parishes  of  the  same  denomination.  Much  territory  is  not  included 
within  the  parish  of  any  church,  especially  among  the  mountains 
in  the  western  part  of  the  county.  The  farms  here  are  scattered 
and  isolated.  The  land  yields  only  enough  for  the  farmers'  needs 
and  the  drifts  in  winter  prevent  traveling.  It  was  said  that  two 
entire  townships  were  absolutely  neglected  during  the  winter  of 
1920  and  that  no  services  of  any  kind  were  held. 


HOW  THE  TYPICAL  DOLLAR  IS  RAISED 

ADDISON 

WARREN                                           TOMPKINS 

COUNTY 

COUNTY                                             COUNTY 

COLLECTION^ ^^^ 

COLLECTION 

ENDOWMENT    Ct         ihy^^^^H 
MISCELLANEOUS         HJJ^^^^^B 

^^^.-^'^^,„. 

'^^^^^^CRIPTION 

ENDOWMENT  ft 

MISCELLANEOUS 

.30 

CHART   I 


All  but  six  of  the  churches  are  in  good  repair,  although  thirty-one 
are  still  heated  by  stoves  and  twenty-four  are  lighted  by  oil  lamps. 
Thirty-five  churches  are  of  the  traditional  one-room  type,  a  preaching 
auditorium  and  nothing  more.  Thirty  church  buildings  are  valued 
at  $2,500  or  less,  and  only  three  at  more  than  $10,000. 

Twenty-one  churches  use  a  budget  system  and  twenty-five  con- 
duct annual  every-member  canvasses.  At  least  one-third  of  the 
organizations  may  be  said  to  be  without  any  organized  financial 
system,  depending  upon  collections  and  special  appeals  for  their 
support.  Twelve  churched  receive  home  mission  aid  amounting  in  all 
to  $2,300,  $800  of  which  is  received  by  one  circuit,  covering  a  large 

36 


THE  CHURCHES 


County   Boundary 

^— —  ^  —  Commimif^   Boundorif 

"^"^^^  Parish    Boundary 

... --—Parish  A  ChwrcK  Con«i#ct<««j  L*n« 

Circuit  «f  P«|t*r 


KEY   AND    SYMBOLS 

•   Homltr 
%  V,nat)n 
^  Town  'ovtr  5,000 
a  Church  -Whif. 

Church  -C«lor>d 

Churth  -Wh,f.  w^th  Paitar'a  Rri.dwin 
6  Church -C>l«rr4.».lh  Paitar't  RciiJiik* 


4  Po.for-,   RmiJmo  i..th«ut  Church-m.* 
4  Piistor'5  Reaidancc  mrliout  Church  CelarW 

■  Abandoned   Church.     (J  |na.cli>c  Church 
IS  Sundoi)  Schxl  w.thour  Church  -kVhitc 

■  jundo^  SchosI  Wilhnt  Church  -Colorad 
H  Church  uarn^  School    Bid). 


CHURCH    AND   COMMUNITY    MAP   OF    WARREN    CX)UNTY,    N.    Y. 


42G36 


37 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

and  scattered  field  which  is  largely  mission  territory.  The  per  capita 
contributions  for  village  and  country  churches  are  $25.44  and  $22.96 
respectively.  For  the  county  as  a  w^hole,  it  is  estimated,  however, 
that  30  per  cent,  of  the  total  receipts  are  obtained  from  gifts  of 
summer  people  and  from  miscellaneous  sources. 

The  forty-seven  churches  command  the  service  (in  whole,  or  in 
part)  of  twenty-six  pastors,  five  of  whom  also  follow  other  occupa- 
tions. Salaries  run  generally  from  $1,250  to  $1,500.  There  are  no 
large  circuits  and  only  one  pastor  serves  more  than  three  points. 

The  total  enrollment  is  2,480.  The  average  active  membership 
for  village  churches  is  sixty-seven,  for  country  churches  only  seven- 
teen. As  the  total  population  is  15,350,  this  means  that  only  16 
per  cent,  of  the  inhabitants  are  Protestant  church  members.  Only 
thirty-six  of  the  forty-seven  churches  conduct  Sunday  schools,  and 
these  have  a  total  enrollment  of  1,880,  or  an  average  of  fifty-two 
per  school. 

Every  year  Warren  County  grows  more  popular  as  a  summer 
resort.  Every  year  Glens  Falls  increases  in  wealth,  industry  and 
community  progressiveness.  Affairs  are  in  no  way  at  a  standstill. 
The  land  is  being  extensively  reforested.  Educational  methods  are 
being  improved,  and  between  town  and  country  a  better,  more 
friendly  feeling  is  rapidly  growing.  There  is  less  suspicion  and 
more  of  a  spirit  of  cooperation  all  along  the  line.  There  are  no 
greater  tasks  to  be  accomplished  than  those  presented  by  the  churches 
of  the  county  today.  If  the  county  boasted  only  of  beauty  these 
problems  might  never  be  unraveled,  but  fortunately  it  has  also  brains 
and  a  well  remembered  tradition. 


38 


Chapter  IV 
SOCIAL  AGENCIES  AND  ACTIVITIES 

IN  Addison  County,  as  in  nearly  every  section  of  America  today, 
a  spirit  of  unrest  is  abroad.  People  are  not  satisfied  with  things 
as  they  were.  There  is  desire  for  better  schools,  better  farms, 
better  business  conditions.  As  in  other  sections  of  the  Colonial  area, 
schools  were  among  the  county's  first  institutions.     Since  1845  the 


TRANSPORTATION     UE    LUXE 

Part   of  the   caravan   that   regularly   carries  the   children   of   the    Consolidated    School    at 
New    Haven,    Vt.,    to    and    from    their    lessons 

State  of  Vermont  has  seven  times  made  important  modifications  in 
its  system  of  school  administration,  the  present  code  having  been  in 
efifect  only  six  years.  Substantial  progress  toward  improvement  in 
educational  methods  has  been  made  on  the  basis  of  extensive  surveys 
under  the  best  professional  supervision.  In  Addison  County  there  is 
as  yet  only  one  consolidated  school.  There  are  two  junior-senior 
high-schools,  in  one  of  which  forty-eight  of  the  105  pupils  enrolled 
arc  non-resident.  At  Vergennes  is  located  an  Industrial  school  in 
which  there  are  nearly  300  pupils.  Within  the  county  there  are  no 
welfare  or  benevolent  institutions  or  agencies,  nor  is  there  a  county 

39 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

health  or  nursing  association.    Plans  are  under  way  for  a  new  county 
hospital,  the  funds  for  which  have  already  been  raised. 

In  twenty-one  of  the  twenty-six  communities  there  are  free 
public  libraries.  Newspapers  are  published  in  four  communities. 
As  for  recreational  life,  Httle  has  been  done  outside  of  two  or  three 
of  the  larger  centers  to  meet  the  demand.  Six  communities  have 
dance-halls,  four  have  moving-pictures,  four  have  organized  athletics, 
seven  have  pool-rooms  and  there  are  three  bands  and  three  orchestras. 
Twenty-one  lodges  in  the  county  have  a  combined  membership  of 
1,741  and  are  a  chief  factor  in  the  promotion  of  social  life.  Other 
societies  number  nineteen  and  include  nine  women's  clubs,  a  gun 


QUITE    HAirV,    THANK    YOU  ! 

The  playground  at  Bristol,  Vt.,  is  only  one  of  many  boons  conferred  by  the  Community 

Club 

club,  the  Cedar  Lake  Boys'  Club,  a  business  men's  club,  the  Fort- 
nightly Club,  four  D.  A.  R.  societies,  a  W.  C.  T.  U.  and  a  country 
club.  There  are  fourteen  Granges  whose  memberships  total  1,420, 
and  which  are  active  socially  besides  taking  the  lead  in  aiding  eco- 
nomic development.  In  only  three  communities  is  the  Church  con- 
sidered a  factor  in  supplying  recreational  activity.  In  four-fifths 
of  the  communities  the  presence  of  leaders  is  recognized,  although 
in  the  majority  community  spirit  is  not  in  evidence.  Middlebury 
and  Bristol  have  proved  the  worth  of  "getting  together"  socially 
and  religiously  and  in  business  life,  but  the  more  rural  districts  still 
show  the  need  of  cooperation,  several  inactive  community  clubs  being 
an  evidence  of  this. 

40 


SOCIAL  AGENCIES  AND  ACTIVITIES 

Tompkins  County  presents  a  marked  contrast  in  that  it  is  splen- 
didly organized.  The  Grange  and  the  Farm  and  Home  Bureaus  are 
the  leading  farmers'  organizations.  There  are  eighteen  Granges 
with  2,200  members.  Half  of  them  own  their  halls.  The  County 
Farm  Bureau  has  been  largely  instrumental  in  organizing  the  Dairy- 
men's League,  the  County  Sheep  Growers'  Association,  the  Guernsey 
Club,  the  Holstein  Club  and  the  Market  Gardeners'  Association,  and 
is  of  constant  assistance  in  their  work.  The  County  Home  Bureau 
has  900  members  and  is  developing  interest  in  many  directions,  one 
being  the  travelling  libraries  in  rural  communities.  It  cooperates 
with  the  Red  Cross  in  encouraging  health  work  and  hot  lunches  in 
schools,  and  is  working  with  some  of  the  churches.  Its  program 
covers  a  wide  range  of  activities,  including  household  management, 
recreation  and  civics,  and  does  for  the  rural  home  what  the  Farm 
Bureau  does  for  the  farm. 

Of  twenty-eight  rural  communities  in  Tompkins  County  all  but 
one  report  one  or  more  leaders.  Not  all  of  them,  however,  have  as 
yet  been  able  to  unite  their  localities  so  that  they  possess  that  in- 
tangible but  valuable  quality  known  as  community  spirit.  This  seems 
to  be  present  in  only  fourteen  communities.  The  county  has  an 
excellent  school  system.  The  Red  Cross  in  1920  had  8,685  members, 
of  whom  3,270  were  in  rural  centers. 

There  are  a  Tuberculosis  Sanitarium  in  the  county  and  a  nurse 
who  works  throughout  the  area  in  locating  cases  and  assisting  in 
their  treatment.  A  summer  Preventorium  devoted  to  the  building 
up  of  under-developed  children  is  at  South  Lansing.  Ithaca  has  an 
endowed  children's  home.  The  Ithaca  Women's  Clubs  have  recently 
purchased  a  large  residence  in  the  heart  of  the  city  which  has  been 
converted  into  a  real  Community  House.  Many  rural  women  belong 
to  this  Federation  and  the  County  Home  Bureau  and  W.  C.  T.  U. 
use  the  building  constantly.  The  George  Junior  Republic  at  Freeville 
has  attracted  nation-wide  attention  by  its  successful  attempt  to  teach 
self-government,  self-control  and  the  dignity  of  labor  to  young 
people  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  twenty-one,  who  otherwise 
might  remain  useless  members  of  society.  It  is  financed  by  fees  and 
gifts  and  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  industrial  and  educational 
communities  in  the  country.  There  is  also  a  well  kept  County  Home. 
A  State  Home  for  dependent  families  is  being  erected  by  the  State 
Odd  Fellows  Lodge. 

Even  Calf  Clubs  and  Farm  Bureaus  furnish  social  life  for  their 
members  to  an  unusual  degree  in  this  county.  Commercial  amuse- 
ments center  largely  at  Ithaca.    Only  four  communities  have  moving- 

41 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

picture  theaters,  and  there  are  but  seven  pool-rooms.  Dancing  seems 
to  be  the  most  popular  form  of  recreation.  Thirty-one  lodges  have 
2,288  members  and  are  very  active.  The  W.  C.  T.  U.  has  twenty- 
five  local  Unions  and  1,500  members.  It  has  also  ten  young  people's 
branches  with  107  members.  There  are  sixty-one  other  societies 
and  clubs  having  more  than  2,700  members,  showing  that  rural 
Tompkins  County  is  not  lacking  in  varied  social  activities.  Every 
community  has  one  or  more  places  for  recreation  and  one  or  more 
social  organizations,  but  in  most  cases  there  is  no  definite  plan  for 
promoting  this  phase  of  community  life. 

In  Warren  County  there  is  no  influence  for  social  development 
greater  than  that  of  the  Farm  Bureau.     Not  only  does  it  aid   in 


DOES    IT    PAY    TO    ADVERTISE 


agricultural  enterprise  but  it  also  provides  many  social  occasions, 
conducts  a  song  school  and  holds  a  large  number  of  successful 
community  meetings.  Less  than  half  of  the  twenty-eight  communi- 
ties acknowledge  the  presence  of  community  spirit,  developed  chiefly 
by  the  summer  population,  the  Farm  Bureau,  the  churches  and  the 
schools.  Nineteen  communities  report  leaders.  Social  life  is  plenti- 
ful in  summer,  but  sadly  lacking  at  other  times  of  the  year.  Deer 
hunting  is  the  chief  sport  in  the  fall.  There  are  only  three  Granges 
and  only  thirteen  active  Lodges,  although  their  membership  numbers 
nearly  2,000.  In  only  four  communities  is  the  church  mentioned  as 
a  factor  in  social  activity.  Summer  hotels  are  used  for  occasional 
dances  and  parties.  Now  and  then  a  lodge-hall,  school  or  town-hall 
will  be  found  serving  as  a  social  gathering  place,  but  in  winter  social 

42 


SOCIAL  AGENCIES  AND  ACTIVITIES 

activities  are  scarce  indeed.  Seven  communities  have  halls  for 
dancing,  six  have  moving-picture  theaters,  and  six  have  pool-rooms. 
Three  communities  have  organized  athletics  and  there  is  one  bowling- 
alley. 

Schools  in  the  rural  districts  are  generally  of  the  one-room  type, 
lacking  in  modern  equipment.  At  Silver  Bay  the  conference  build- 
ings are  used  in  winter  by  a  Preparatory  School  for  Boys,  the  en- 
rollment of  which  is  seventy-five.  Bolton  has  a  private  school  for 
girls  with  fifty  pupils.  There  are  libraries  in  only  six  of  the  twenty- 
eight  communities.  There  is  only  one  newspaper  published  outside 
of  Glens  Falls,  the  County  Weekly  at  Warrensburg. 

Health  work  is  well  organized  at  Glens  Falls  and  more  is  being 
done  each  year  among  the  rural  inhabitants.  The  Warren  County 
Committee  for  Prevention  of  Tuberculosis  is  conducting  vital  work 
and  organizing  educational  activities.  A  commendable  program  has 
recently  been  adopted,  and  there  are  hopes  for  a  fresh-air  camp  for 
under-nourished  children.  At  Glens  Falls  is  located  the  tri-county 
Blind  Home  which  cares  for  patients  of  Warren,  Washington  and 
Saratoga  counties.  The  Red  Cross,  since  the  War,  is  directing  its 
efforts  toward  aiding  ex-service  men  throughout  the  county.  The 
county  has  a  poor  farm  located  at  Warrensburg  and  consisting  of 
about  200  acres.  The  Associated  Charities  direct  their  attention 
chiefly  to  Glens  Falls,  except  on  urgent  call  from  outside. 

Of  the  three  counties  under  consideration,  Tompkins  alone  is  ade- 
quately organized  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  health  and  the  social  and 
recreational  life  of  its  people.  Addison  County  has  only  two  well 
organized  communities  and  Warren  County,  outside  of  Glens  Falls, 
is  more  or  less  indifferent  to  the  need  of  organized  endeavor  for 
public  welfare. 


43 


Chapter  V 
FOLK  DEPLETION  AND  MISSED  OPPORTUNITIES 

VITAL  changes  have  taken  place  within  the  rural  regions  of 
the  Colonial  area  during  the  last  decade.  The  1920  census 
shows  that  every  state  in  New  England  except  Massachusetts 
has  declined  considerably  in  rural  population,  and  even  in  Massachu- 
setts it  is  likely  that  the  farming  districts  have  lost  population.  Rural 
New  York  State  reports  a  decline  of  6.9  per  cent,  and  the  Vermont 
figures  show  a  loss  of  5.7  per  cent.  Of  the  three  counties  under 
consideration  Warren  County  has  declined  the  most  rapidly,  there 
being  hardly  any  immigration  and  little  foreign  influx  outside  of 
Glens  Falls.  The  death-rate  exceeds  the  birth-rate  and  young  people 
still  continue  to  flock  to  the  cities.  Warren  County  reports  a  decrease 
of  nearly  12  per  cent,  in  rural  population,  while  Tompkins  County 
declined  11  per  cent,  and  Addison  7  per  cent,  in  the  last  census  period. 
For  the  entire  Colonial  area  there  was  a  decrease  in  the  number 
of  farms  of  11  per  cent,  for  the  last  decade  as  against  a  decrease  of 
only  2  per  cent,  during  the  preceding  ten  years.  New  York  and 
Vermont  reported  a  decrease  approximating  the  average  for  the  area. 
In  Addison,  Tompkins  and  Warren  counties  the  loss  in  the  number 
of  farms  was  from  11  to  15  per  cent.,  there  being  122,874  acres  less 
in  farms  in  the  three  counties  today  than  a  decade  ago.  On  the 
other  hand,  wherever  there  is  industrial  growth  there  has  been  in- 
crease in  population.  Ithaca  increased  one-seventh  and  Glens  Falls 
nearly  one-tenth  during  the  last  ten  years,  the  rate  of  growth  having 
been  somewhat  accelerated  in  Ithaca  and  considerably  retarded  in 
Glens  Falls  as  compared  with  the  previous  decade.  Five  agricultural 
villages  in  the  three  counties  which  have  some  industrial  interests 
are  growing;  but,  of  the  seven  hill  towns  of  Addison  County  only 
one  increased  in  population  during  the  decade  apd  that  only  slightly 
because  of  increased  lumber  industry.  Thirteen  of  the  sixteen  valley 
towns  in  the  same  county  declined.  The  great  cityward  surge  has 
continued  now  for  more  than  two  centuries.  The  people  of  the  coun- 
try districts  have  answered  the  call  of  industry  and  the  city.  Migra- 
tion has  far  exceeded  normal  proportions. 

The  agricultural  colleges  are  endeavoring  to  give  back  to  the 

44 


FOLK  DEPLETION  AND  MISSED  OPPORTUNITIES 

country  its  share  of  efficient  workmen.  Every  year  sincere  students 
of  the  soil,  a  surprising  number  of  them  city  born  and  bred,  are 
turning  from  the  crowd  toward  what  they  are  sure  is  a  better  future 
in  the  open  country.  There  is  an  increasing  number  of  more  pro- 
gressive farmers,  husbandmen  indeed,  who  have  achieved  agricul- 
tural success  and  have  by  wise,  fair  methods  checked  migration  from 
their  farms.  For  example,  there  is  a  successful  farm  in  the  foothills 
of  the  Berkshires,  which  has  been  in  the  hands  of  the  same  family 
for  three  generations.  The  family  consists  of  father,  mother  and 
two  sons,  both  of  whom  are  now  young  men.  The  father,  having 
been  elected  a  Representative  to  the  Legislature,  and  needing  more 
free  time  to  fulfill  his  political  duties,  wisely  placed  his  farm  in  the 


AN    UP-TO-DATE    FARMER 
The  racing  car  brings  the  advantages  of  the  city  within  easy   reach  of  the  farm 

hands  of  his  two  sons  and  gave  them  the  complete  management  of  it. 
Unlike  too  many  farmers,  he  has  always  paid  his  boys  a  generous 
sum  each  week,  and  under  the  new  arrangement  he  raised  their 
salaries.  In  addition,  he  gave  them  money  with  which  to  buy  an 
automobile  for  their  own  use.  They  bought  a  racing  car.  They 
know  that  there  are  no  city  wages  higher  than  their  own,  for  they 
have  been  there  to  find  out.  If  they  wish  to  enjoy  what  advantages 
the  city  ofifers,  the  racer  is  at  their  service ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact 
they  do  not  care  for  city  life.  Their  land  is  fertile;  their  crops  are 
the  pride  of  the  community.  The  sense  of  ownership  and  the  fact 
that  they  hold  resix)nsible  positions  have  kept  these  boys  contented 
on  the  farm.  Though  both  are  less  than  twenty-five  years  of  age, 
they  are  already  well  established  in  a  business  that  pays. 

45 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

Successful  experiments  of  the  kind  described  may  help  to  check 
the  exodus  from  the  more  productive  lowlands.  In  the  hills,  on  the 
other  hand,  farming  is  beset  with  many  difficulties,  and  there  de- 
pletion is  still  going  on  and  will  doubtless  continue.  In  the  eastern 
half  of  Addison  County,  for  example,  the  seven  hill  towns  previously 
referred  to,  whose  total  population  now  numbers  only  3,245,  declined 


WHERE  EDUCATION    LAGS 
A  school  in  the  abandoned  farm  region  in  the  hills  of  Vermont 


more  than  three  times  as  rapidly  as  the  valley  towns  of  the  same 
county  during  the  last  ten  years.  Here  the  farms  are  usually  too 
small  for  modern  methods  of  cultivation.  Many  are  overgrown  with 
stubble  or  consist  of  run-out  land,  where  the  only  hope  of  future 
prosperity  lies  in  reforestation.  Foreigners  have  not  been  attracted 
by  them.  Young  people  are  few  and  the  ambitious  have  long  ago 
departed.  Schools  are  inadequately  equipped.  No  lodges  are  active 
and  no  social  organizations  make  any  consistent  efforts  to  bring 
people   together   oven   to   talk  things   over.     Grange   suppers   and 

46 


FOLK  DEPLETION  AND  MISSED  OPPORTUNITIES 

occasional  dances  alone  break  the  monotony  of  life  in  the  hills.  The 
churches  are  weak  and  are  declining  rapidly  in  membership,  interest 
and  attendance.  Of  the  ten  hill-town  churches,  just  one  (a  Fed- 
erated church)  has  gained  in  members  during  the  last  decade.  Al- 
though none  are  pastorless  at  present,  seven  of  them  have  each  had 
five  or  more  pastors  during  the  last  ten  years.  Not  one  of  them 
has  retained  the  same  pastor  for  that  length  of  time  while  three  have 
had  eight  and  one  has  had  ten  pastors  during  the  decade. 

One  would  suppose  that  the  salaries  of  pastors  in  the  larger,  more 
thrifty  valley  churches  would  greatly  exceed  those  paid  by  these 
weak  and  declining  hill-town  churches.  The  margin  of  advantage 
is,  however,  only  lo  per  cent.  The  average  salary  paid  to  the  hill 
church  pastor  is  $1,203  ^^^  to  the  valley  church  pastor  $1,324,  while 
the  average  for  the  entire  county  is  only  $1,321.  It  is  interesting 
to  note  that  the  average  annual  per  capita  contribution  toward 
salaries  is  larger  in  hill  churches  than  in  valley  churches,  $15.70  as 
compared  with  $12.23.  The  average  church  devotes  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  its  total  income  to  its  pastor's  salary,  giving  only  12  per 
cent,  for  benevolences,  and  has  an  average  annual  per  capita  con- 
tribution for  all  purposes  of  $20.04.  ^^  this  matter  of  per  capita 
giving  for  all  church  purposes  the  hill  churches,  with  an  average  of 
$22.31,  have  again  a  marked  advantage  over  the  valley  churches  in 
which  the  average  is  only  $16.77,  which  seems  to  indicate  that  the 
greater  the  struggle  to  live  the  greater  the  sacrifice  a  church's  mem- 
bership will  make. 

In  the  relative  frequency  of  churches  there  is  not  much  difference 
between  the  two  sections.  There  is  one  church  for  every  467  persons 
in  the  hill  communities  and  for  every  510  persons  in  the  valley 
communities. 

Only  two  of  the  hill  churches  are  self-supporting,  the  other  eight 
receiving  Home  Mission  aid  to  the  total  amount  of  $1,487,  or  an 
average  of  $186  per  church.  Half  of  these  churches  have  active 
memberships  of  twelve  or  less  and  only  one  church  (Federated) 
has  more  than  fifty  active  members.  The  membership  of  all  ten 
churches  includes  108  families,  four-fifths  of  whom  live  in  purely 
rural  districts.  Only  forty-eight  boys  and  girls  are  on  the  rolls  and 
four  churches  report  no  young  people  whatever.  During  last  year 
two  churches  gained  twelve  members,  four  others  lost  seventeen  and 
four  remained  stationary.  There  are  no  organizations  for  men,  boys 
or  girls  in  these  ten  churches,  though  in  nine  of  them  the  Ladies' 
Aids  are  as  usual  quite  active.  As  to  the  future  there  seems  to  be 
little  hope.     Pastors  and   leading  laymen  regard  indifference  and 

47 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

isolation  as  their  chief  problems.  Where  leadership  is  lacking,  there 
is  always  a  lack  of  incentive  to  follow.  Where  there  are  few  young 
people,  the  older  people  inevitably  lack  ambition  and  social  advan- 
tages mean  little.  Religion  becomes  a  task  which  often  is  left 
undone.    So  much  for  the  hill  towns. 

A  different  situation  is  found  on  a  visit  to  five  agricultural 
communities,  three  in  Addison  and  one  in  each  of  the  New  York 
counties,  which  are  developing  not  only  along  agricultural  but  also 
along  industrial  lines.  Their  combined  population  is  about  one- 
fourth  of  the  total  rural  population  of  the  three  counties  and  includes 
more  than  800  foreigners.  During  the  last  decade  they  have  in- 
creased in  population  5  per  cent.  One  thousand  seven  hundred  and 
twenty-five  people  are  employed  in  the  several  industrial  plants, 
1,050  of  them  in  one  community.  All  five  of  these  more  enterprising 
communities  have  adequate  leadership  and  all  but  one  manifest  con- 
siderable community  spirit.  Each  according  to  its  make-up  is  well 
organized  in  its  social,  religious  and  economic  life. 

In  one  community,  life  revolves  principally  around  the  Corona 
Typewriter  Corporation,  which  maintains  an  employees'  club,  a  band 
and  a  gymnasium.  Organized  athletics  are  conducted  by  the  cor- 
poration which  is  to  employ  a  paid  director  of  sports  who  will  also 
serve  the  schools  and  townspeople.  A  new  school  has  recently  been 
built  in  which  community  rooms  are  an  important  factor.  In  another 
community,  lodge  activities  are  most  prominent.  Still  another  is  domi- 
nated by  the  college  close  at  hand,  and  this  community  is  not  only  the 
county  seat  and  chief  shipping  point  but  is  the  hub  of  its  entire  county. 
Social  life  is  not  wanting  and  the  women's  clubs  have  been  a  moving 
power  in  bringing  about  a  splendid  cooperative  spirit  in  the  village. 
Another  community,  lying  in  a  deep  valley  in  the  Green  Mountains, 
has  an  organization  of  men  of  which  it  may  well  be  proud.  Its 
members  are  business  and  church  men  and  through  their  efforts 
much  civic  improvement  has  been  made  possible.  A  park,  which 
is  also  a  community  playground,  in  the  center  of  the  village  is  one 
evidence  of  their  successful,  unselfish  endeavor.  The  fifth  com- 
munity is  the  smallest  city  in  the  United  States  and  the  third  oldest 
in  New  England.  A  very  typical  Vermont  village  is  this,  with  fine 
ideals  and  worthy  traditions,  but  not  easily  adapted  to  change.  The 
beautiful  old  buildings  stand  in  striking  contrast  to  the  fine  new 
library  on  the  main  street  and  very  clearly  typify  the  problem  which 
is  slowly  being  solved  here,  a  struggle  between  the  old  and  the  new, 
evidenced  not  only  in  its  industrial  and  social  but  more  especially 

48 


FOLK  DEPLETION  AND  MISSED  OPPORTUNITIES 

in  its  religious  life.    The  D.  A.  R.  and  women's  clubs  are  influential 
and  the  lodge  and  Grange  have  also  large  memberships. 

The  churches  in  these  five  communities  are  a  good  deal  above  the 
average  in  their  organizations.  There  are  twenty  churches,  which 
are  surely  too  many,  though  three-fourths  of  them  have  more  than 
fifty  members  each.  Including  five  Roman  Catholic  churches,  there 
is  one  church  for  every  491  persons  in  these  communities.  During 
the  last  decade,  50  per  cent,  of  the  Protestant  churches  have  in- 
creased considerably  in  membership,  and  last  year  nine  churches 
made  a  net  gain.  Salaries  paid  to  pastors  show  the  same  unfair, 
low  average  as  in  all  the  communities  in  the  three  counties.  The 
maximum  salary  is  only  $1,800  and  the  average  salary  only  $1,178, 
a  pitifully  low  sum  for  a  thriving  community  to  expect  any  self- 
respecting  family  to  live  on  in  these  days  of  high  prices.  Each  of 
the  twenty  churches  has  a  resident  pastor,  in  fifteen  cases  on  full  time 
and  in  five  instances  serving  two  points  each.  With  fewer  churches 
memberships  might  be  strengthened  sufficiently  to  pay  the  pastors 
adequate  salaries. 

These  contrasts  already  shown  between  the  less  favored  hill 
towns  and  those  more  fortunate  agriculturally  and  industrially  in- 
dicate the  effects  which  these  economic  factors  have  upon  church 
and  community  life.  What  such  a  situation  means  in  the  aggregate 
can  be  conceived  only  through  a  glimpse  at  the  whole  picture. 

There  are  in  the  three  counties  eighty-two  well-defined  communi- 
ties, and  93  per  cent,  of  them  are  declining  in  population.  Sixteen 
communities  have  populations  of  200  or  less.  Twenty  report  that 
there  are  no  leaders  among  them,  and  more  than  half  show  no 
evidence  of  community  spirit.  But  if  community  life  has  been 
undermined  by  depletion,  religious  life  is  threatened  with  extinction. 
Of  the  144  churches  in  the  three  counties,  61  per  cent,  have  remained 
at  a  standstill  or  declined  in  membership  during  the  last  ten  years. 
More  than  one-fourth  of  them  have  now  twenty-five  members  or 
less;  two-thirds  have  fifty  members  or  less.  Addison  County  has 
suffered  the  largest  loss  in  church  membership  during  the  past  year. 
Of  its  forty  churches  eleven  gained  eighty-five  members,  but  fifteen 
churches  lost  ninety-nine  members  and  fourteen  churches  remained 
stationary.  That  is  to  say,  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  county's 
churches  are  declining  or  are  barely  holding  their  own,  and  there  was 
a  net  loss  of  fourteen  members  from  all  churches  during  the  year. 

In  view  of  the  abandoned  farms,  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  that 
there  are  thirty  abandoned  church  buildings  in  the  three  counties. 
Some  have  been  closed  because  no  members  were  left  in  the  parish, 

49 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 


some  because  of  nearness  to  the  city  or  to  a  stronger  church  of  the 
same  denomination,  others  simply  for  lack  of  support  and  interest. 
Some  of  these  abandoned  churches  are  being  used  as  lodge  or  grange 
halls,  but  many  of  them  seem  to  be  waiting.  For  what?  Perhaps 
till  the  time  when  the  community  house  ceases  to  be  a  dream.  There 
are  church  organizations  everywhere  with  inadequate  equipment  for 
any  sort  of  recreational  program.  With  a  little  renovating  and 
rearrangement  some  of  the  abandoned  church  buildings  might  well 
fill  the  need  of  a  real  "meeting  house"  where  neighbors  should 
become  acquainted. 


THE  CHURCHES  AND  THEIR  MEMBERSHIPS 


94 

Churches 


30 

Churches 


11 
Churches 


9 

Churches 


Under 
50 


Over 
150 


50-100  100-150 

MEMBERSHIP 
Two-thirds  of  the  churches  have  less  than  50  members 


Besides  the  abandoned  churches,  there  are  the  inactive  churches. 
There  are  seven  in  Warren  County  whose  organizations  are  still 
intact,  though  no  services  are  held  in  them  except  possibly  in  summer. 
Members  of  the  majority  of  these  attend  the  services  of  other  de- 
nominations during  the  winter  or  until  they  can  procure  regular 
pastors.  They  are  all  in  communities  too  small  to  support  more 
churches  than  are  now  holding  services,  but  no  organized  effort  is 
made  to  have  their  members  regularly  support  the  churches  which 
they  have  taken  to  attending.  The  result  is  that  no  sooner  have 
they  become  interested  in  the  services  of  other  churches  than  their 
own  churches  are  once  more  opened  for  the  summer.  These,  how- 
ever, seldom  have  regular  pastors.     Usually  they  are  served  by  a 

50 


FOLK  DEPLETION  AND  MISSED  OPPORTUNITIES 

student  supply,  which  comes  and  goes  and  serves  only  to  keep  alive 
the  smoldering  fire  of  denominational  loyalty. 


GAIN  AND   LOSS  IN   MEMBERSHIP 

SUMMER  RESORT  AND  INDUSTRIAL  COMMUNITY   CHURCHES 


SUMMER  RESORT 
CHURCHES 


INDUSTRIAL  COMMUNITY 
CHURCHES 


CHART   III 


A  situation  of  this  kind  is  indefensible  from  any  point  of  view. 
In  all  instances  where  there  are  inactive  churches,  there  are  other 


GAIN    AND    LOSS  IN   MEMBERSHIP 

AGRICULTURAL  COMMUNITY  CHURCHES 


MORE  FAVORED 
COMMUNITIES 


LESS  FAVORED 
COMMUNITIES 


CHART    IV 


churches  active  throughout  the  year.  The  only  hope  of  the  small, 
weak  churches  in  Warren  County  is  in  united  effort,  not  only  for  a 
few  months  during  the  winter  but  throughout  the  year ;  not  in  a 

51 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

half-hearted,  indififerent  attendance,  but  in  a  genuine  spirit  of 
cooperative  religious  enthusiasm.  If  denominationalism  ceased  to 
run  so  high  there  might  be  many  a  successful  community  church  like 
that  at  Chestertown,  and  the  buildings  closed  thereby  would  be 
available  for  additional  equipment  in  carrying  out  a  real  community 
church  program,  so  much  needed  in  Warren  County.  Church  ad- 
ministrators carry  a  heavy  responsibility  in  so  far  as  they  perpetuate 
this  situation  or  even  allow  it  to  drag  along. 

Within  rural  Glens  Falls  there  are  five  abandoned  churches,  and 
the  question  arises :  "What  is  the  relation  of  a  growing  city  to  its 
surrounding  area?    What  is  its  killing  range  vs.  its  service  range?" 

Cities  as  a  rule  are  still  quite  indifferent  as  to  the  services  just 
outside  their  limits.  Until  recently,  there  has  been  little  cooperation 
of  any  sort  between  Glens  Falls  and  the  outlying  country.  On  the 
other  hand,  Ithaca,  with  her  cooperative  agencies  well  established 
and  her  fine  roads  leading  out  in  all  directions  into  the  rural  dis- 
tricts, has  related  herself  in  a  friendly  and  very  helpful  way  to  the 
entire  county.  Striking  contrasts  have  been  brought  to  light  by  the 
survey  of  the  areas  surrounding  these  two  busy  industrial  centers, 
not  only  in  their  social  but  especially  in  their  religious  life. 

Within  a  six-mile  radius  of  Ithaca  there  is  just  one  abandoned 
church.  There  are  six  well  organized  churches,  five  of  which  are  of 
Methodist  and  one  of  Baptist  denomination.  Though  pastorates 
have  been  short  during  the  last  ten  years  none  of  these  churches  is 
at  present  pastorless  and  none  is  receiving  home  mission  aid.  Mem- 
berships are  the  average  size  for  the  county,  only  one  church  having 
less  than  fifty  members.  The  Sunday  school  enrollment  equals  95 
per  cent,  of  the  total  resident  membership.  This  situation  is,  how- 
from  farm  homes.  These  rural  churches  are  organized  on  a  sound 
financial  basis.  All  but  one  use  a  budget  system  and  all  hold  annual 
every-member  canvasses  for  the  systematic  raising  of  funds.  A  net 
gain  of  six  members  was  made  by  three  churches  during  last  year. 
Though  their  programs  are  meager,  three  have  the  use  of  stereopti- 
cons  occasionally  and  one  church  reports  special  meetings  with 
speakers  from  the  Agricultural  College.  None  of  the  churches  has 
organizations  for  men,  boys  or  girls,  although  these  constitute  53 
per  cent,  of  the  total  church  roll,  and  55  per  cent,  of  the  pupils  are 
ever,  not  unusual  in  the  three  counties,  all  of  which  are  negligent 
in  organizing  church  social  life  for  their  people.  Rural  Ithaca  at 
least  names  the  church  as  its  main  institution  and  boasts  of  com- 
munity spirit  and  cooperation  among  its  people.  It  is  evident  that 
Ithaca  is  not  "living  unto  herself  alone."    We  find  her  banks,  stores. 

52 


FOLK  DEPLETION  AND  MISSED  OPPORTUNITIES 

schools,  and  all  her  cooperative  forces  giving  aid  to  the  rural  area, 
furnishing  a  market  for  its  product,  capital  for  its  agricultural  en- 
terprises, and  welcome  to  its  citizens. 

Glens  Falls  presents  a  different  situation.  The  city,  unlike  Ithaca, 
is  situated  at  the  very  southeast  corner  of  the  county  and  belongs 
partly  in  other  counties.  Agriculturally,  Warren  County  has  been 
unable  to  furnish  any  great  supply  for  the  city.  She  has  given 
timber,  and  in  time  will  give  it  again.  She  has  also  given  citizens 
to  the  industries  in  Glens  Falls.  It  is,  however,  only  recently  that 
this  busy,  industrial,  growing  city  has  been  moved  to  give  anything 
back  to  the  rural  areas,  and  it  is  the  Church  which  has  just  seen  the 
needs  of  the  neglected  fringe  of  the  city.  In  the  rural  area  about 
Glens  Falls  is  a  good  farming  district  in  which  more  than  i,ooo 
people  are  resident.  There  are  just  three  organized  churches,  all 
of  which  are  at  present  very  weak  and  irregular  in  their  activities. 
There  is  no  resident  regular  pastor  in  the  entire  area,  but  services 
are  held  at  seven  points,  and  during  the  last  year  the  associate 
pastor  of  the  Glens  Falls  Presbyterian  Church  has  held  services 
every  Sunday  at  as  many  points  as  possible. 

In  one  parish  there  are  more  than  forty  children,  but  only  a 
dozen  attend  Sunday  school.  Two  of  the  leading  church  members 
are  at  present  holding  mission  study  classes  and  endeavoring  to  keep 
the  organization  together.  One  of  them  remarked :  "We  need  a 
young  pastor  and  a  regular  Sunday  school  superintendent,  who  can 
wake  up  the  young  people."  Several  of  these  points — an  unorgan- 
ized church,  the  County  Line  Mission,  etc. — have  been  served  by 
"anyone  who  would  come."  At  one  point  midweek  services  are 
very  successfully  carried  on.  Much  unselfish  service  has  been  ren- 
dered in  the  entire  area  by  laymen  and  interested  neighboring  pas- 
tors. It  is,  however,  the  vision  of  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Glens 
Falls  that  has  instituted  "the  larger  parish"  plan  which  will  reopen 
some  of  these  weak,  struggling  churches,  put  them  on  a  systematic 
basis  and  place  a  regular  pastor  in  the  area.  The  type  of  pastor 
needed  is  one  who  will  be  disinterested  denominationally  and  will 
really  get  acquainted  with  the  people,  not  only  from  a  religious  but 
from  a  social  point  of  view. 

The  foregoing  pages  point  to  the  development  of  a  closer  co- 
operation in  mutual  interest  and  understanding  between  farm  and 
community,  between  religion  and  society,  l)etwcen  town  and  country. 
The  farmer  will  perhaps  succeed  in  inducing  his  sons  and  daughters 
to  remain  willingly  on  the  farm,  but  the  churches  also  have  their 
part  to  play  in  interesting  these  boys  and  girls  in  live  programs  and 

53 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

dynamic  recreational  activities  as  well  as  in  preaching  sermons  to 
them  on  Sundays.  With  the  activities  of  the  churches  the  life  of 
the  rural  community  rises  or  falls.  It  must  be  expected  that  those 
fitted  to  forward  industrial  activities  will  go  where  industry  is; 
but  there  are  others  who  might  succeed  in  the  country  and  who 
would  lose  the  urge  of  the  city  if  some  of  the  advantages  offered 
by  the  city  were  brought  to  them  in  the  country.  Above  all  other 
agencies  the  Church  is  best  fitted  to  assume  leadership  in  the  task 
of  revitalizing  the  community  life  of  rural  America. 


54 


Chapter  VI 
FOREIGNERS  ON  THE  LAND 

FOREIGNERS  are  found  in  all  but  nine  of  the  communities 
of  Addison  and  Tompkins  counties.  Thirty-one  per  cent,  of 
the  urban  and  19  per  cent,  of  the  rural  populations  of  the 
three  counties  are  foreign-born  or  of  immediate  foreign  extraction. 
Of  the  total  number  of  foreigners  in  the  rural  areas,  45  per  cent, 
are  in  Addison,  33  per  cent,  are  in  Tompkins  and  22  per  cent,  are 
in  Warren  County.  In  the  last  county  they  are  chiefly  engaged  in 
the  garnet  mines  at  North  River  or  are  resident  in  Graphite,  where 
mines  were  formerly  in  operation.  There  are  hardly  any  foreigners 
on  the  farms  of  Warren  County. 

Whether  the  foreigners  are  engaged  on  the  farms  or  are  indus- 
trially employed,  their  presence  raises  serious  problems  in  religion, 
society  and  education.  Little  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  American- 
ization outside  the  larger  centers.  Class  distinction  is  strong.  The 
majority  of  churches  report  that  the  foreigners  attend  the  Roman 
Catholic  church  "if  any,"  which  seems  to  indicate  a  general  indiffer- 
ence toward  this  incoming  population  and  little  intelligent  effort  to 
reach  it.  These  foreigners  have,  however,  done  much  toward  bring- 
ing rural  life  back  to  its  own,  economically  if  not  socially,  and  among 
them  are  many  scientific  farmers. 

In  a  certain  community  in  Massachusetts  are  two  farms  side  by 
side.  One  is  owned  by.  a  typical  American  and  the  other  by  a 
Polish  peasant  farmer.  The  two  are  equally  productive  at  the 
present  time.  The  Polish  farmer  landed  in  America  only  six  years 
ago.  He  worked  for  two  years  on  the  American's  farm.  He  saved 
money  and  he  observed  the  methods  used  by  the  American,  who 
has  lived  all  his  life  here.  Today  this  Pole  owns  his  own  farm,  fills 
his  own  silo,  cuts  his  own  tobacco,  for  which  he  gets  prices  envied 
by  his  American  neighbor.  He  has  his  own  home  and  a  thriving 
young  family.  He  is  a  good  citizen  and  is  quite  typical  of  a  large 
percentage  of  farmers  in  that  region. 

The  French  Canadian  continues,  as  of  old,  to  trust  in  the  land 
of  the  Champlain  Valley,  in  Addison  County,  and  in  ever  increasing 
numbers  he  is  buying  up  farms  and  settling  there.     In  consequence, 

55 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

the  membership  of  five  Roman  Catholic  churches  now  exceeds  that 
of  forty  Protestant  churches.  Everywhere  is  felt  the  growing 
strength  of  the  Canadian  influence.  The  French  Canadian  is  loyal 
to  his  own  church  to  a  degree  which  might  well  be  duplicated  by 
Protestants. 

Some  assimilation  might  be  attained  on  a  purely  human  basis  if 
denominationalism  did  not  run  so  high  and  if  the  Golden  Rule  were 
more  definitely  practiced.  Successful  inter-racial  cooperation  has 
been  developed  in  Middlebury  by  the  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs 
whose  committees  take  turns  visiting  in  the  homes  of  the  foreign- 
born.  Sincerity  has  won  these  New  Americans.  If  they  desire  to 
learn  English,  classes  are  arranged.  In  the  home  of  one  of  the 
town  leaders  there  was  a  beautiful  bowl  of  flowers  on  the  table. 
They  were  the  gift  of  "an  Italian  friend"  of  the  hostess.  She  had 
come  with  her  large  family  on  Sunday  afternoon,  had  talked  of 
current  happenings,  strolled  through  the  garden,  and  enjoyed  the 
new  records  on  the  phonograph.  There  are  few  homes  in  which 
such  hospitality  is  to  be  found.  The  habit  of  following  the  line  of 
least  resistance  and  indifiference  is  too  much  a  matter  of  course. 
Especially  in  rural  New  England,  people  need  to  "thaw  out"  in  their 
attitude  toward  their  leaders,  toward  each  other,  and  toward  the 
stranger  within  their  gates. 


56 


Chapter  VII 
THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  SUMMER  RESORT 

EVERY  summer  Warren  County  is  host  to  more  than  15,000 
visitors.  The  normal  year-round  population  is  doubled.  Ten 
communities,  containing  about  half  the  rural  population  of 
the  county,  are  dependent  to  some  extent  upon  the  summer  visitor. 
The  more  enterprising  communities  make  great  preparations.  The 
stores  with  their  summer  stock  become  quite  up-to-date  shops.  All 
the  business  resources  are  assembled.  Some  of  the  people  rent  rooms 
or  furnish  board.  Others  run  automobiles  to  "any  place  you  want 
to  go."  Everywhere,  everyone  hustles  to  entertain  the  "city  folks" 
in  the  best  possible  fashion,  on  the  lakes,  through  the  shaded  drives, 
over  the  mountains  or  in  the  tea-rooms.  For  all  this  the  summer 
folk  pay  and  so  do  the  winter  folk.  September  comes  and  the 
vacationist  returns  home.  The  year-round  residents,  with  their 
easily  earned  incomes,  begin  to  turn  in  for  the  season  and  all  social 
life  comes  to  a  sudden  standstill  like  a  clock  run  down.  The  curtains 
of  the  gift  shops  are  drawn  for  the  season.  Tea-rooms  become 
restaurants  or  go  out  of  business.  Automobiles  are  glad  to  take 
traveling  men  from  town  to  town  and  to  attend  funerals  once  again. 
Some  of  the  inhabitants  take  to  the  woods  and  go  to  lumbering. 
Others,  like  one  well-to-do  taxi  man,  "do  not  worry,"  having  laid 
aside  a  sum  of  "between  $6,000  and  $7,000  in  two  months." 

And  what  of  the  churches?  In  a  good  many  cases  they  have 
been  nearly  wrecked.  During  the  summer  their  pews  have  been 
filled  with  wealthy  visitors.  The  resident  congregation  has  been 
necessarily  kept  away  from  services  to  see  that  the  guests'  dinners 
are  properly  prepared.  Dififerent  pastors  give  different  versions  of 
the  effect  upon  their  organizations.  One  pastor  sighed  and  shook 
his  head.  "If  the  summer  folks  would  stay  at  home,"  he  said,  "we 
might  be  able  to  manage  the  winter  ones."  On  the  other  hand,  a 
certain  Episcopal  rector  remarked  that  if  it  were  not  for  the  summer 
people  his  church  would  have  to  close.  In  the  words  of  Josei)li 
Lincoln,  the  summer  residents  live  on  the  lands  about  Lake  George, 
and  the  "natives  live  on  the  summer  residents."  They  dcj^end  on 
them  not  only  for  their  daily  bread,  but  for  the  supi)ort  of  their 
churches. 

57 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

On  the  surface  the  resort  churches  seem  to  be  better  off  finan- 
cially than  those  in  non-resort  communities.  A  good  many  churches 
do  not  make  up  their  budgets  until  after  the  vacation  season.  Sum- 
mer guests  are,  as  a  rule,  regular  attendants  at  services  and  liberal 
with  their  collections.  In  non-resort  communities  the  churches  raise 
seven-eighths  of  their  funds  by  subscription.  Those  in  resort  centers 
depend  largely  on  collections,  more  than  a  third  of  their  money 
being  raised  by  this  means.  The  non-resort  churches  exceed  the 
resort  churches  in  average  per  capita  contribution  toward  benevo- 
lences. The  average  per  capita  expenditure  is  $26.99  ^o^  the  resort 
church  and  only  $21.94  in  non-resort  churches.  Pastors'  salaries 
in  resort  churches  range  from  $975  to  $2,500,  averaging  $1,557, 
which  is  larger  than  the  average  for  the  county.  In  non-resort 
churches  the  average  is  $1,225. 

The  task  of  the  summer  pastor  is  not  easy.  He  must  please  two 
entirely  different  congregations.  At  the  end  of  each  season  there 
comes  a  sudden  change.  The  year-round  congregation  has  become 
disorganized.  Programs  so  easily  carried  out  with  the  summer  life 
in  the  community,  become  impossible  because  their  leaders  have 
returned  to  the  cities.  They  came  here  to  play,  familiar  with  organ- 
ized life  and  full  of  novel  ideas,  not  afraid  to  express  them  and  put 
them  into  practice.  The  country  folk  under  their  leadership  found 
it  easy  to  play  with  them.  The  guests  have  failed  to  do  the  real 
service  of  developing  local  leaders.  In  October,  when  a  question 
was  put  concerning  the  social  life  of  village  and  church  under  ordi- 
nary winter  conditions,  there  were  shakings  of  the  head  and  replies 
of  "nothing  doing,"  or  "not  during  the  winter." 

A  survey  of  the  twenty-two  churches  affected  by  summer  traffic 
shows  that  only  three  interest  themselves  in  civic  affairs,  four  aim 
to  aid  in  agricultural  enterprise,  eight  have  socials,  three  have  study 
classes  or  other  educational  programs  and  three  have  entertainments 
of  some  sort.  Only  four  have  any  organizations  for  men,  three  of 
these  holding  joint  meetings  and  proving  a  vital  moving  force  in  the 
community.  Twelve  churches  have  Ladies'  Aids  and  only  five  have 
organizations  for  young  men  and  women,  while  there  is  not  a  single 
club  or  society  for  boys  or  girls.  Yet  the  net  active  membership  of 
these  twenty-two  churches  is  1,010,  nearly  one-third  of  whom  are 
young  people  under  twenty-one  years  of  age.  There  are  more  than 
300  young  people  in  the  summer  resort  churches  wondering  each 
fall  what  to  do  until  next  summer  when  "life"  will  begin  again. 
They  will  demand  recreation.  Their  parents  may  be  tired  of  the 
hurry  and  the   social  demands   made   upon   them.     They   may  be 

58 


THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  SUMMER  RESORT 

content  without  a  social  program.  But  the  young  people  will  never 
be  content  without  it  and  if  it  is  not  provided  by  the  Church  they 
will  find  it  elsewhere. 

It  would  seem  quite  natural  that  the  Church  should  take  upon 
itself  the  responsibility  of  leadership  in  social  affairs  of  the  com- 
munity in  winter  as  well  as  in  summer.  In  the  ten  communities 
where  vacationists  gather  there  are  only  four  libraries.  Only  one 
grange  is  active  and  in  only  four  communities  are  there  lodges.  If 
the  churches  were  better  business  organizations  they  would  be  found 
getting  together  to  form  some  sort  of  organized  program,  realizing 
that  here  is  an  opportunity  to  make  good.  It  is  a  new  field  ripe  for 
cultivation.  The  summer  folks  have  sown  the  seed  and  demonstrated 
the  value  of  cooperation.  It  is  not  fair  that  the  vacationists  should 
have  had  all  the  fun.  But  there  must  be  permanent  leadership  to 
organize  the  new  ideas  and  not  new  leadership  every  season  or 
oftener.  Pastoral  changes  are  all  too  frequent  in  these  communities. 
Two-thirds  of  the  churches  in  the  resorts  have  had  three  or  more 
different  pastors  each  during  the  last  decade.  Four  have  had  five 
pastors,  one  has  had  seven  and  one  has  changed  pastors  eight  times. 
It  is  no  wonder  then  that  half  the  churches  are  either  stationary  or 
declining  in  membership.  Fourteen  out  of  the  twenty-two  churches 
have  memberships  of  fifty  or  less,  although  in  the  ten  communities 
where  they  are  located  there  are  371  persons  for  every  church. 

Only  12  per  cent,  of  the  total  population  of  these  summer  resort 
communities  are  included  in  the  net  active  membership  of  the 
churches.  To  be  sure  some  of  the  communities  scarcely  exist  except 
during  the  summer,  and  then  several  of  them  have  large  Roman 
Catholic  and  other  non-Protestant  populations.  In  a  county  where 
farms  are  so  scattered  and  parishes  stretch  far  out  into  the  hills  it 
is  almost  impossible  to  get  people  together  unless  there  is  a  sufficiently 
interesting  center  of  activity.  The  Farm  Bureau  has  proved  of 
unquestionable  value  in  breaking  down  barriers  of  that  type  of 
indifference  which  is  caused  by  isolation.  It  should  be  the  task  of 
the  churches,  not  only  in  summer,  but  in  winter  to  supply  similar 
programs  of  such  caliber  as  to  bring  together  old  and  young  for 
social  as  well  as  religious  activity.  Whether  it  be  stercopticon  lec- 
tures or  socials,  supi)ers,  amateur  theatricals  or  musicales,  it  is  for 
the  leaders  of  rural  churches  to  consider.  Recreation  there  must 
be,  and  if  it  is  sujjplied  by  the  Church  as  a  center  the  entire  com- 
munity gains  both  socially  and  spiritually. 


59 


Chapter  VIII 
WHAT  DO  THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE  NEED? 

THE  Farm  and  Home  Bureaus  in  most  counties  have  asked 
themselves  this  question  and  set  out  to  find  the  answer. 
So  too  have  some  of  the  churches,  though  too  few  have  paid 
sufficiently  serious  attention  to  the  problem.  Tompkins  and  Addison 
counties  are  experimenting  under  the  auspices  of  Farm  and  Home 
Bureaus  along  different  lines  of  club  activity  with  boys  and  girls. 
There  are  calf  clubs,  potato  clubs,  canning  clubs,  etc.  The  Farm 
Bureau  in  Addison  County  was  the  first  in  the  state  to  adopt  the 
plan  of  family  membership,  the  success  of  which  is  not  to  be  doubted. 
The  young  people  share  in  the  activities  of  their  parents  and  are 
not  only  gaining  much  information  regarding  scientific  farming  but 
are  learning  to  be  better  citizens,  to  know  the  value  of  team  work 
and  to  realize  that  their  help  is  necessary  in  the  making  of  a  better 
country  life. 

In  Warren  County  there  is  at  present  no  Home  Bureau.  The 
opportunity  for  the  churches  is  evident.  The  young  people  would 
gladly  welcome  any  form  of  program.  Twenty-nine  per  cent,  of  the 
church  enrollment  is  under  twenty-one  years  of  age  and  yet  in  all 
the  county  there  is  but  one  "Soup  Club."  Such  organizations  are 
not  only  for  the  "par  churches"  of  a  county,  but  might  be  duplicated 
in  every  community.  This  boys'  Soup  Club  stands  for  hikes,  skat- 
ing parties,  athletic  contests,  winter  socials,  serious  talks,  friendliness, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  program — soup.  But  it  means  more.  It  means 
strength  and  a  future  for  the  church  of  the  day  after  tomorrow. 

In  the  three  counties,  in  addition  to  a  few  Boy  Scout  and  Camp 
Fire  organizations  (the  value  of  which  must  not  be  under-estimated) 
and  the  usual  organizations  of  purely  religious  character  for  young 
men  and  women,  there  are  in  the  churches  only  seven  societies  for 
boys  and  six  for  girls — thirteen  social  groups  with  a  membership 
of  255,  compared  with  twenty-five  societies  and  clubs  outside  the 
churches  with  a  membership  of  nearly  2,000.  A  little  less  than  one- 
third  of  the  church  members  under  twenty-one  years  of  age  are 
active  in  church  organizations.  The  Ep worth  League  and  the 
Christian  Endeavor  are  a  very  great  influence  in  Christian  life  but 

60 


WHAT  DO  THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE  NEED? 

they  cannot  altogether  take  the  place  of  the  informal,  get-together 
social  clubs.  The  churches  lack  such  activities  because  they  are 
too  satisfied  with  things  as  they  have  aWays  been.  Organizations 
outside  the  church  are  all  the  time  providing  something  new,  vital, 
related  to  life,  and  have  therefore  won  to  their  ranks  a  large  follow- 
ing of  young  people  who  thrive  on  "something  new."  Until  the 
churches  are  willing  to  make  serious  efiforts  to  appeal  to  their  young 
people  in  a  like  manner,  church  organizations  for  them  will  not  be 
popular. 

Could  the  older  people  encourage  the  organization  of  young 
people's  societies?  They  most  assuredly  could  if  only  by  the  activity 
of  their  own  organizations.  Concerning  the  work  of  the  ladies' 
societies,  nothing  need  be  said.  The  survey  shows  that  88  per  cent, 
of  the  women  on  the  church  roll  are  active  workers  in  church  or- 
ganizations. They  are,  indeed,  the  pillars  of  the  Church  today. 
The  men  have  not  yet  considered  to  any  extent  that  a  socially  organ- 
ized effort  on  their  part  would  benefit  their  churches.  There  are  in 
three  counties  only  eleven  church  organizations  for  men,  enrolling 
about  one  man  in  every  six  of  the  church  membership.  Twenty- 
seven  churches  out  of  144  report  no  social  organizations  whatever, 
and  twenty- four  entire  communities  have  no  social  organizations  in 
the  churches.  Contrast  this  situation  with  that  which  exists  in  the 
way  of  community  organizations  outside  the  Church.  There  are 
thirty-five  granges  whose  membership  is  nearly  4,000.  There  are 
sixty-five  lodges  with  6,029  members  (approximately)  and  in 
seventy-three  other  social  and  civic  organizations  there  are  more 
than  5,000  members.  It  is  evident  that  something  is  lacking  some- 
where in  the  church  program. 

Here  and  there  are  pastors  who  have  solved  the  problem  of  or- 
ganizing their  people  for  service.  For  example,  in  one  rural  com- 
munity of  one  of  these  counties  there  lives  a  busy  pastor  of  three 
churches,  one  of  which  is  seven  and  another  ten  miles  from  his  home. 
In  order  to  bring  his  salary  up  to  a  living  wage  he  teaches  school 
four  and  one-half  miles  away,  making  the  trip  to  and  from  his 
school  on  foot  since  two  miles  of  the  journey  are  over  mountain 
land.  He  is  not  only  a  pastor  and  a  teacher.  He  is  also  the  local 
correspondent  for  the  county  paper  and  special  reporter  for  the 
county  seat's  two  newspapers.  He  plays  the  cornet  in  the  town  band. 
He  also  fills  the  position  of  Conference  Secretary  to  the  Sunday 
School  Board.  He  is  the  County  Superintendent  of  Sunday  schools. 
He  teaches  Sunday  school  every  Sunday  and  directs  a  rural  teachers' 
training  class.     The  main  and  most  vital  reason  for  his  success  in 

61 


■     '^wa::C'^  ,    ' 

■.%-^'^>'-      -        ^ 

.-#''*v-y 

~^i^^^^^^^^^^^^Hlh 

^--t         'v'^^C^^^^HI 

jtlll^l^%^a^ 

•:.♦.      /"'-«Wi 

^^^Bt     .^  -'^i^^^^^^HS?'  '  w- 

gf-  Vg/:-    Sd 

mV^'  -  ^'^liViK^  • 

v'-^.^;  M 

ER,  y*t  •''-"'; 

1 1 

1  -?r*  .   . 

1    ^    . 

A    VERSATILE    PASTOR 

Here  is  a  rural  minister  whose  life  is  just  one  long  holiday.  Above  are  represented 
two  of  his  diversions — playing  the  cornet  in  the  town  band  and  "hiking"  with  his  Boy 
Scouts.  His  other  activities  include  preaching  in  three  churches,  teaching  day  school  and 
Sunday  School,  acting  as  County  Sunday  School  Superintendent  and  sitting  on  various 
committees.     He   devotes  his  spare  time  to   reporting   for  two  newspapers. 


62 


WHAT  DO  THE  YOUNG  PEOPLE  NEED? 

the  community  lies  in  his  hold  upon  the  young  people.  He  has  three 
troops  of  Boy  Scouts.  They  camp  together,  hike,  and  hold  social 
meetings.  These  boys  do  not  have  to  be  dragged  to  prayer  meetings. 
They  come  to  the  pastor's  house  and  ask  where  the  meetings  are 
to  be  held,  and  then  they  attend  and  take  active  part  in  them.  When 
asked  as  to  how^  he  had  managed  to  break  down  all  barriers  and  so 
solidly  gain  the  absolute  confidence  of  his  boys,  he  said :  "Well,  when 
I  was  a  boy,  I  remember" — and  he  needed  to  say  no  more. 

There  should  be  more  leaders  of  this  sort.  Rural  churches  all 
but  entirely  neglect  boys'  and  girls'  work.  Church  and  school  should 
cooperate  more  closely  in  the  building  up  of  Christian  citizenship. 
Churches,  which  have  undertaken  special  work  among  young  people 
and  tried  programs  for  a  long  enough  time  to  prove  their  value, 
have  realized  that  through  organized  efTort  among  boys  and  girls 
comes  the  larger  devotion  both  in  faith  and  in  service  for  the  future. 


63 


Chapter  IX 
OVER-  AND  UNDERCHURCHING 

ONE  of  the  reasons  for  the  small  church  memberships  and  for 
the  decline  in  attendance  is  to  be  found  in  the  overchurching 
which  exists  throughout  the  area.    In  Tompkins  County  this 
is  especially  apparent.    The  rural  population  of  this  county  divided 


ONE  SIDE  OF  A  VILLAGE   SQUARE 

The    School    and    the    Universalist    and    Methodist    Episcopal    Churches    at    Speedsville, 

Tompkins  County 

by  the  number  of  churches  gives  a  proportion  of  one  church  to  every 
332  people.  When  the  Roman  Catholic  membership  is  deducted  this 
figure  drops  materially.  Two  communities  have  five  churches  each ; 
one  of  the  communities  has  a  population  of  only  900,  and  not  one 
of  its  churches  has  a  resident  pastor.  Sectarianism  is  strong  enough 
to  have  divided  this  community  and  none  of  the  churches  has  more 
than  forty-five  active  members,  two  having  only  eleven  each.     Six 

64 


OVER-  AND  UNDERCHURCHING 

strictly  rural  communities,  most  of  them  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
county,  have  sixteen  churches,  although  in  each  of  these  places  the 
constituency  cannot  properly  support  more  than  one  church  with  a 
resident  pastor.  Some  of  the  observers  of  the  situation  frankly  state 
that  the  Church  would  be  greatly  strengthened  if  one-third  of  the 
churches  in  the  county  were  eliminated.  Certain  it  is  that  parish 
lines  need  to  be  reorganized,  especially  within  denominations,  for 
there  are  certain  cases  within  the  county  where  that  least  excusable 
of  overchurching  sins  is  committed — namely,  competition  between 
churches  of  the  same  denomination. 


GROWTH    AND  DECAY 

The  successful  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  at  Bakers  Mills,  Warren  County,  and  by 
its  side  the  dilapidated  Pentecostal  Holiness  Church  still  strusRling  along  with  a  pastor 
living  in  the  church  building  and  about  a  dozen  members.  The  Wesleyan  Church  would 
be  still  further  strengthened  if  another  church  of  the  same  denomination,  served  by  the 
same   pastor,   less  than  two  miles  away,   would  consent   to   close   its   doors. 

The  larger  communities  of  Warren  County  are  overchurched. 
In  one  town  there  are  five  large  Protestant  church  organizations 
besides  other  smaller  groups  worshiping  separately.  The  popula- 
tion is  only  2,500  and  only  one-fifth  are  active  church  members. 
The  smaller,  weaker  organizations  prove  a  stumbling  block  to  the 
larger  ones  and  they  themselves  can  hope  for  no  more  than  a  static 
existence.  Lack  of  unified  force  makes  adequate  financial  support 
an  impossibility.  Small  memberships  where  the  population  is  not 
increasing  deprive  any  church  of  whole-hearted  service.  If  some 
of  the  small,  struggling  memberships  would  join  with  the  stronger 
organizations  their  influence  might  be  more  than  doubled.  Unless 
some  such  step  is  taken  there  will  surely  be  continued  poverty  in 

65 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

religious  activity.  Pastors  will  continue  to  "carry  on,"  though  ill- 
supported,  and  be  forced  to  follow  other  occupations  besides  the 
ministry  in  order  to  live.  Some  will  give  up  and  join  the  silent 
strikers  from  the  ranks  of  the  ministry. 

In  one  instance,  in  a  purely  rural  area,  there  are  two  churches 
of  the  same  denomination  holding  services  within  a  mile  of  each 
other.  They  have  the  same  pastor,  who  serves  also  another  church 
not  far  away.  Some  of  the  members  of  one  church  live  in  the  parish 
of  the  other  and  the  people  at  the  latter  attend  service  frequently  in 
the  community  where  the  pastor  lives  rather  than  in  their  own,  yet 
refuse  to  have  their  churches  united.  Thus  the  service  this  pastor 
might  render  to  one  strong  church  is  divided  into  two  parts  and  he 
must  hold  services  for  two  small,  weak  congregations  instead  of  for 
one  large,  responsive  one.  Contrasted  with  these  areas,  which  have 
more  churches  than  they  can  possibly  support,  are  the  neglected 
areas.  There  are  three  communities  in  Warren  County  and  one  in 
Addison  County,  with  a  total  population  of  549,  having  neither 
church  service  nor  Sunday  schools.  There  are  not  enough  people  in 
any  one  of  the  four  to  support  a  pastor  and  drifted  roads  in  winter 
make  traveling  next  to  impossible.  The  consequence  is  that  these 
people,  excepting  a  few  in  one  community  who  sometimes  attend  a 
school-house  service,  are  absolutely  neglected. 

Goshen,  Vermont,  has  two  unused  church  buildings,  one  of  which 
is  in  very  good  repair.  The  pastor  of  a  neighboring  church  is  willing 
and  anxious  to  serve  the  Goshen  people,  who  number  more  than 
100,  but  they  have  no  interest  in  the  church,  and  there  is  little  use 
in  a  hard  trip  to  preach  to  empty  pews.  The  community  is  satis- 
fied with  Grange  life  as  its  backbone.  In  a  little  neighborhood  of 
southwestern  Warren  County  there  is  a  pastorless  church,  which, 
however,  continues  to  grow.  Its  Ladies'  Society  and  Sunday  school 
are  active,  and  regular  services  are  held.  Once  a  month  a  neighbor- 
ing pastor  sends  a  written  sermon,  which  is  read  from  the  pulpit 
by  one  of  the  leading  members.  Last  year  a  splendid  revival  service 
was  held  here  resulting  in  twenty-one  converts  and  a  new  awakening 
of  enthusiasm  in  the  organization.  The  chief  problem  of  this  little 
neighborhood  is  its  scattered  population.  Leading  members  predict, 
however,  a  good  future  in  this  field  if  a  resident  pastor  is  sent  to 
the  rescue.  Few  are  the  country  churches  that  are  so  alive  to  their 
responsibility  that  they  register  a  definite  gain  even  though  they 
have  no  pastors. 

In  the  Industrial  School  at  Vergennes,  Vermont,  are  nearly  300 
persons.     Of  these,  at  least  160  are  Protestant,  and  yet  no  kind  of 

66 


OVER-  AND  UNDERCHURCHING 

strictly  religious  services  are  held  for  them.  The  state  pays  a 
Roman  Catholic  priest  for  his  services  to  those  of  his  faith  in  the 
institution  and  they  are  well  cared  for.  The  school  authorities  are 
not  in  favor  of  one  denomination  taking  charge  of  services,  but 
would  welcome  Protestant  ministers  of  different  denominations  in 
turn.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Protestant  pastors  feel  that  little  could 
be  accomplished  in  this  way,  and  the  result  is  that  no  Protestant 
minister  goes  out  to  the  school.  Ethical  talks,  music  and  services 
of  a  general  nature  are  provided  on  Sundays,  but  they  are  not 
especially  of  a  religious  nature  and  religious  services  are  much 
needed. 

In  the  mountainous  sections  of  Warren  County  there  are  folks 
who  are  not  unlike  the  mountaineers  of  the  Appalachian  range  and 
though  a  few  are  reached  by  a  traveling  missionary  who  serves  a 
six-point  circuit,  there  are  many  who  know  very  little  about  religion. 

If  the  stronger  churches  in  all  three  counties  could  in  some  way 
extend  their  parishes  further  out  into  the  hills  they  might  do  a  piece 
of  real  missionary  work.  This  would  mean  better  citizens,  more 
church  members  and  larger  attendance  and  would  check  the  decline 
in  church  strength.  One-third  of  Warren  County's  churches  have 
less  than  twenty-five  members  and  of  these  86  per  cent,  are  declining. 
There  are  only  seventeen  churches  in  the  county  with  as  many  as 
fifty  members.  Unless  some  definite  measures  are  speedily  taken, 
at  least  one-third  of  the  present  active  churches  must  soon  suffer  the 
fate  of  the  nine  churches  already  abandoned. 


67 


Chapter  X 

ONE   WAY   OUT— CHURCH    FEDERATION    AND   THE 
VERMONT    PLAN 

FOUR  years  ago  the  leading  representatives  of  the  Congrega- 
tional, Methodist  Episcopal  and  Baptist  denominations  in 
the  State  of  Vermont  together  worked  out  a  plan  in  defense 
of  religion  in  the  rural  community.  They  realized  that  unless  some- 
thing was  done  immediately,  a  large  proportion  of  the  Protestant 
churches  would  soon  be  closed. 

The  Vermont  plan  recognized  the  following  methods  for  carrying 
out  their  ideals  in  particular  overchurched  communities: 

1st. — The  absolute  withdrawal  of  one  denomination  in  favor  of 
another. 

2nd. — The  federation  of  the  existing  churches  without  the  with- 
drawal of  either  denomination. 

3rd.— The  temporary  maintenance  of  the  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion of  the  denomination  withdrawing  until  the  entire  with- 
drawal could  be  wisely  effected. 

In  the  main,  the  superintendents  have  favored  and  effected  the 
first  plan.  A  denomination  which  surrendered  its  rights  to  any 
given  community  was  compensated  by  being  given  sole  responsibility 
in  another  locality.  This  plan  retains  in  each  community  one  strong 
working  church  with  overhead  supervision  properly  geared  up  to  the 
driving  power  of  the  ecclesiastical  body  to  which  it  belongs.  The 
federated  plan  provides  for  union  in  worship  of  two  or  more 
churches,  with  one  pastor,  but  maintains  each  church  organization 
fully  and  does  not  look  to  the  withdrawal  of  any  denomination. 
Alternation  of  pastors  between  the  denominations  concerned  is  a 
frequent  but  not  a  necessary  feature.  The  local  program  is  thor- 
oughly unified.  Each  organization  contributes  to  its  own  denomina- 
tional benevolences  and  a  joint  committee  handles  the  local  affairs 
of  the  federation. 

The  Vermont  plan  has  been  successful  in  the  main.  Thirty-four 
communities  have  been  organized  with  but  one  congregation  each. 
Seventy-four  churches  have  been  affected  by  the  readjustments. 
More  than  a  score  of  pastors  have  been  freed  for  service  elsewhere 
and  approximately  $3,000  in  missionary  money  has  been  saved.    The 

68 


ONE  WAY  OUT— CHURCH  FEDERATION 

net  average  salary  of  the  ministers  has  been  increased,  although  in 
a  number  of  communities  the  total  amount  paid  for  salaries  has 
decreased.  It  must  be  admitted  that  while  church  attendance  and 
membership  have  been  increased  in  some  places  they  have  remained 
stationary  or  have  decreased  in  quite  a  number.  This  is  due  to 
population  changes.  Two  mail  carriers  in  one  community,  for 
instance,  report  that  in  the  last  six  years  eighty  farms  have  changed 
owners  and  all  but  six  of  these  have  passed  into  the  hands  of 
Catholics, 

In  none  of  the  instances  reported  in  a  state- wide  canvass  of  the 
situation  by  the  Rev.  C.  C.  Merill,  Congregational  State  Secretary, 
was  there  any  question  as  to  the  success  of  the  movement.  In  some 
cases  the  adjustment  was  proceeding  slowly  but  hopefully.  The 
standing  of  the  church  in  the  community  was  materially  bettered  in 
all  cases.  The  chance  for  more  effective  community  service  was 
greatly  enhanced,  and  in  many  cases  a  number  of  community  ac- 
tivities under  church  auspices  had  been  successfully  inaugurated. 

In  Addison  County  the  movement  for  church  consolidation  was 
under  way  before  the  denominational  superintendents  and  secre- 
taries began  their  epoch-making  work.  Under  these  circumstances 
the  federated  church  was  the  way  out,  and  there  are  more  federated 
churches  in  Addison  County  than  there  are  congregations  to  which 
has  been  given  sole  responsibility  for  a  particular  field. 

Evidence  appears  in  many  communities  of  a  successful  attempt 
to  stay  the  movement  toward  the  disappearance  of  Protestantism  in 
declining  open  country  areas.  There  are  five  federated  churches  in 
the  county,  four  of  which  are  a  combination  of  Methodist  and  Bap- 
tist denominations  located  in  country  districts,  and  the  other  a 
Federation  of  Methodist  and  Congregational  denominations  in  a 
village.  The  latter  has  been  most  successful.  Its  membership  has 
increased  and  during  last  year  its  net  gain  was  twenty-nine  members. 
The  leading  men  of  the  community  are  the  leading  men  of  the 
church.  Interest  in  community  activity  has  been  developed  through 
the  initiative  of  the  Brotherhood.  The  Sunday  school  has  increased 
in  devotion,  attendance  and  organized  endeavor.  In  the  country 
churches,  federation  has  been  more  difficult.  Church  membership 
with  them  has  not  increased  except  in  one  case.  During  the  last 
five  or  ten  years  the  total  membership  of  the  five  federated  churches 
has  remained  nearly  stationary.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe,  how- 
ever, that  any  better  record  would  have  been  made  under  circum- 
stances of  competition. 

Although  there  have  been  favorable  results  in  some  cases,  the 

69 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

effort  toward  federation  in  Addison  County  has  not  yet  proved 
entirely  successful.  As  to  the  success  of  the  arrangement  in  one 
community,  a  leading  citizen  remarked:  "It  is  our  only  salvation, 
we  could  do  no  other  way."  In  another  community,  however,  the 
Baptist  part  of  a  Federated  organization  desires  to  leave  and  unite 
with  an  organization  of  its  own  denomination  in  another  community. 
Another  federated  organization  uses  the  Methodist  Episcopal  and 
Baptist  buildings  each  for  six  months  of  the  year.  Members  of  each 
organization  are  more  or  less  inactive  during  the  half  of  the  year  when 
their  own  building  is  closed.  But  these  are  rather  defects  in  human 
nature  than  in  the  ideal  of  cooperation.  In  some  cases  the  arrange- 
ment seems  to  have  drawn  tighter  the  lines  of  denominationalism. 
Four  Protestant  churches,  besides  a  large  Roman  Catholic  church, 
are  holding  regular  services  in  a  community  of  i,8oo  people.  The 
Roman  Catholic  constituency  is  estimated  at  500,  which  means  that 
there  is  a  Protestant  church  for  every  325  non-Catholics.  The 
church  records  show,  however,  that  only  about  one-fifth  of  the 
population  are  active  church  members.  One  of  the  stronger  churches 
here  has  very  cordially  invited  a  weaker  organization  to  join  in  its 
services.  The  weaker  church  has  few  rnembers,  is  not  self- 
supporting  and  has  suffered  from  too  frequent  pastoral  changes. 
The  arrangement  has  not  been  successfully  carried  out,  however, 
and  both  churches  hold  regular  services  at  present. 

It  would  appear  on  the  strength  of  the  state-wide  results  of  the 
Vermont  plan  that  the  denominational  community  church  with  sole 
responsibility  obtains  somewhat  better  results  than  the  federated 
church.  Probably  this  plan  in  certain  communities  would  be  a  con- 
siderable improvement  over  the  present  situation  and  would  effect  a 
solution  of  the  problems  which  could  not  be  brought  about  by 
federation,  for  federation  is  sometimes  blocked  by  dislike  for  change 
and  lack  of  leadership  along  with  well  defined  denominational  lines, 
which  always  mean  possible  withdrawal  of  one  body  or  the  other 
from  the  federation. 

Many  causes  for  success  and  failure  in  federation  are  evident  in 
Addison  County.  Dislike  for  change  in  the  older,  settled  communi- 
ties ;  lack  of  leadership ;  denominational  lines ;  a  sentiment  for  things 
as  they  have  always  been— all  these  causes  have  tended  to  block  a 
genuine  getting  together,  not  only  in  religious  but  in  social  and 
economic  efforts  toward  cooperative  progress. 


70 


Chapter  XI 
NEW  RUDDERS  FOR  OLD  SHIPS 

GOOD  Fences  Make  Good  Neighbors,"  says  the  farmer  in  one 
of  Robert  Frost's  most  typical  New  England  poems,  "Mend- 
ing Wall."  There  are  many  farmers  who  still  cling  to  that 
belief  and  continue  to  look  upon  life  as  a  one-man  job.  Without 
adequately  trained  leadership  rural  communities  can  never  hope  to  lay 
aside  their  non-cooperative  creed.  A  pastor  alone  cannot  make  a 
church  successful ;  nor  can  two  or  three  laymen — everyone  must 
"carry  on,"  No  community  can  expect  to  grow,  while  its  people, 
when  interviewed  as  to  their  leading  citizens,  say  that  "they  just 
lead  themselves." 

The  country  needs  new  rudders  for  its  old  ships.  It  needs  more 
efficient  business  men  in  its  country  stores ;  trained  librarians  who 
will  not  only  teach  the  young  people  how  and  what  to  read,  but  who 
will,  by  their  sympathetic  understanding  and  desire  for  the  com- 
munity's welfare,  join  whole-heartedly  in  leading  the  community  to 
better  things.  One  young  librarian  is  proving  what  may  be  accom- 
plished in  a  community  in  the  West.  She  does  more  than  stamp 
books  and  put  them  away  and  scowl  at  lads  who  make  too  much 
noise.  She  has  a  weekly  story  hour — she  arranges  picnics  and  on 
days  when  the  library  is  closed  she  hikes  with  different  groups  and 
they  read  and  tell  stories  together.  She  writes  inspiring  articles  for 
the  weekly  paper  and  addresses  the  Parent-Teachers'  Association 
from  time  to  time.  She  cooperates  with  the  school  teacher.  In 
brief,  she  is  the  village  advisor,  a  real  power  in  the  community,  wel- 
comed always  at  socials  and  public  gatherings,  and  the  secret  of  all 
her  success  is  her  sincerity  and  her  desire  to  be  of  service. 

Twenty-one  communities  in  Addison  County  have  libraries,  but 
it  is  doubtful  if  one  of  them  can  boast  of  activities  of  such  interest 
and  influence  as  have  just  been  described.  In  the  three  counties 
there  are  fifty  communities  which  have  no  free  public  libraries.  The 
churches  could  and  should  fill  the  need  adecjuately  and  without 
serious  effort.  There  is  no  way  in  which  churches  might  more 
easily  become  real  community  centers  than  by  supplying  their  people, 

71 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

old  and  young,  with  the  right  kind  of  books.  Less  than  half  of  the 
churches  report  libraries  in  their  Sunday  schools.  Many  of  those 
which  have  them  need  a  great  deal  of  weeding.  Up-to-date  collec- 
tions of  readable,  interesting  books  are  rarely  found.  In  every  parish 
it  should  be  possible  to  discover  someone  to  take  charge  of  the 
library. 

If  the  libraries  were  revolutionized,  the  leadership  of  another 
great  neglected  field  might  become  transformed,  namely,  that  of  the 
Sunday  schools  themselves.  Religious  education  is  usually  the  weak- 
est point  in  rural  churches.  Schools  are  poorly  organized,  and  far 
behind  the  times  in  their  methods  of  teaching.  In  the  three  counties 
there  are   123  regularly  organized  Sunday  schools  connected  with 


A    RURAL    LIBRARY 
One  of   the   twenty-one  libraries  in   Addison    County 

the  churches.  Including  the  membership  of  nine  separate  Sunday 
schools  these  schools  have  a  total  enrollment  of  8,080,  or  74  per  cent, 
of  the  number  in  the  total  church  membership  of  the  three  counties. 
Forty  schools  endeavor,  by  means  of  contests  and  rewards,  to 
increase  their  attendance,  which  averages  57  per  cent,  of  the  enroll- 
ment on  a  typical  Sunday  morning.  Although  membership  is  smaller 
in  Warren  County,  the  average  attendance  is  higher  than  that 
reported  by  the  Sunday  schools  of  the  other  two  counties.  The 
enrollment  of  the  schools  of  Tompkins  County  equals  80  per  cent,  of 
the  number  on  its  church  rolls,  and  they  average  twice  the  number 
enrolled  in  either  Warren  or  Addison  Sunday  schools,  though  in 
attendance  they  show  a  lower  average,  only  52  per  cent,  being  present 
on  a  typical  Sunday.  Only  thirty-four  of  the  123  Sunday  schools 
report  organized  departments,  sixty  have  cradle  rolls  and  fifty-one 

n 


NEW  RUDDERS  FOR  OLD  SHIPS 

have  home  departments.     Only  50  per  cent,  of  the  Sunday  schools 
report  regular  periods  given  to  mission  study. 

Religion  is  not  yet  a  subject  taught  in  public  schools.  The  home 
has  largely  failed  to  teach  it  directly  and  many  parents  are  indifferent 
to  the  Sunday  school.  One  hour  a  week  is  set  aside  for  teaching 
Christianity  to  our  young  people — that  is,  two  days  a  year  given 
to  the  direction  of  the  spiritual  development  of  the  next  generation. 

Of  the  123  Sunday  schools  connected  with  churches,  only  seven 
make  any  special  provision  for  training  in  leadership.  That  this 
training  is  at  once  necessary  and  difficult  to  provide  is  evident  to  all 
who  have  attempted  to  provide  it.  Bad  roads,  long  hours  of  labor 
in  the  country  and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  the  proper  leaders  make 
the  task  seem  next  to  impossible.  It  has  been  done,  however,  in 
many  communities  where  training  classes  for  young  people  are  held 
weekly  at  the  regular  Sunday  school  hour.  There  are  in  the  three 
counties  sixteen  teachers'  training  classes,  but  Warren  County  has 
only  two. 

There  is  also  a  lack  of  adequate  social  activity.  Boys  and  girls 
cannot  be  expected  to  be  satisfied  with  annual  picnics  and  class 
socials.  The  playground  and  the  community  service  room  are  rap- 
idly becoming  necessities  in  Sunday  school  equipment.  In  these 
three  counties  three-fourths  of  the  schools  held  picnics.  Fifty-six 
schools  report  class  socials  and  fifty-three  report  social  times  as  a 
whole.  As  for  other  organizations  of  a  social  nature,  Addison 
County  reports  none,  Warren  has  just  one  and  Tompkins  County 
reports  eight. 

One  pastor,  interviewed  on  the  subject  of  recreation,  replied : 
"We  don't  want  any  such  'high  jinks'  in  our  Sunday  schools."  Now 
the  dictionary  gives  the  following  definition  of  "high  jinks":  "an 
old  Scotch  game  in  which  one  was  chosen  by  lot  to  perform  a  task; 
hence,  jollification" — and  jollification  is  nothing  more  than  merry- 
making. A  social  program  is  as  necessary  to  religious  education 
as  food  is  to  the  health  of  the  body.  The  wheels  in  the  machinery 
of  a  "going"  organization  are  many,  and  the  social  wheel  is  in  no 
way  insignificant.  If  such  a  program  is  carried  on  merely  to  get 
the  young  people  into  the  Sunday  school  it  deserves  to  fail,  but  if 
its  motive  is  more  fully  to  interest  members  and  thereby  create  a 
desire  in  their  youthful  hearts  to  l)ecome  loyal  church  members,  then 
it  becomes  a  vital  part  of  the  Christian  message  and  program. 

From  35  per  cent,  of  the  Sunday  schools,  276  pupils  were  made 
church  members  last  year — an  average  of  only  5  per  school.  Nearly 
one-half  of  this  number  joined  Tompkins  County  churches,  21  per 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

cent,  were  in  Warren  and  30  per  cent,  were  in  Addison  County. 
Thirty- four  pupils  have  entered  some  form  of  Christian  work  during 
the  last  decade,  and  twenty  of  these  came  from  Tompkins  County. 
There  are  many  successful  Sunday  schools  in  rural  America  which 
serve  as  prophets  of  a  new  day.  All  three  counties  studied  firmly 
believe  in  Sunday  schools,  but  as  in  so  many  other  activities,  they 
still  cling  to  the  old-time  methods.  It  seems  unfortunate  that  in 
only  twenty-six  schools  are  classes  reported  which  prepare  pupils 
for  church  membership.  Regular  classes  for  that  purpose  might 
be  held  during  a  stated  period  each  year.  In  such  a  way  the  mean- 
ing of  the  Gospel  could  be  presented  so  that  the  leak  from  the 
Sunday  schools  would  be  checked  and  the  "teen"  age  scholars  car- 
ried over  into  full  church  membership  and  Christian  service.  For 
this  purpose  men  and  women  are  needed  of  vivid  personality,  of 
energy  and  of  imagination.  It  is  as  easy  for  children  as  for  their 
parents  to  drift.  Unless  there  is  sufficient  dynamic  force  in  the 
heart  of  the  organization  to  hold  them,  they  lose  interest,  and  the 
Sunday  school  becomes  a  burden  to  all  concerned  instead  of  a  place 
of  preparation  for  future  church  prosperity. 


74 


Chapter  XII 
THE  HAND  OF  THE  DEAD 

IN  a  county  adjoining  Warren  is  a  small  community  in  which 
there  are  three  endowed  churches.  All  of  these  endowments 
are  more  than  one  hundred  years  old.  The  provision  of  the 
original  gift  in  each  case  stipulates  that,  if  the  church  ceases  to  be 
an  organized  congregation  of  the  particular  denomination  to  which 
the  donor  belongs,  the  endowment  shall  revert  to  the  heirs.     The 


HOW  THE  CHURCH  DOLLAR  IS  RAISED 

IN  18  CHURCHES  HAVING  ENDOWMENTS 


COLLECTION' 
.04 


MISCEaANEOUS 
■15 


45%  of  the  churches  have  endowments. 
72%  of  the  total  receipts  of  the  county 
come  from  endowed  churches. 


CHART    V 
(Addison   County  only) 

combined  membership  of  these  churches  is  barely  one  hundred. 
They  have  been  anxious  to  federate,  but  the  hand  of  the  dead 
prevents  this  progressive  step.  Consequently,  each  continues  to 
support  a  resident  minister  who  is  condemned  by  the  terms  of  the 
gift  to  minister  to  the  few  people  who  remain  in  the  community. 
It  is  sometimes  an  open  question  whether  an  endowment  is  a  bane 
or  a  blessing  to  a  church  organization. 

There  are  in  Addison  County  forty  active  churches,  and  eighteen 
of  them  have  endowments,  the  interest  on  which  amounts  to  more 

75 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

than  $6,000  annually.  Seven  of  them  are  in  the  open  country  and 
eleven  are  in  villages.  They  have  70  per  cent,  of  the  total  Protestant 
church  enrollment  of  the  county  and  nearly  three-fourths  of  the 
financial  receipts  of  all  its  churches.  All  but  four  of  these  organ- 
izations are  served  by  full-time  resident  pastors.  Three  have  half- 
time  pastors  and  one  a  pastor  v^ho  serves  three  points.  Fifty-two 
per  cent,  of  their  expenditures  are  for  salaries,  only  20  per  cent,  for 
benevolence  and  28  per  cent,  for  contingent  expense.  Of  their  total 
receipts,  19  per  cent,  is  from  interest  on  endowment,  62  per  cent,  is 
rajsed  by  subscription,  4  per  cent,  is  from  collections  and  15  per 
cent,  from  miscellaneous  sources.  The  average  annual  per  capita 
contribution  per  active  member  is  $14.05,  about  one-fifth  less  than 
the  average  for  the  county. 

During  the  last  ten  years,  seven  of  the  churches  have  declined 
in  membership  and  during  last  year  less  than  half  made  any  gain. 
It  is  human  nature  to  expect  nothing  for  nothing.  The  unpaid 
entertainer  has  usually  a  disinterested  audience.  When  people  have 
really  paid  for  something,  they  grow  interested  in  its  success.  To 
drift  along  on  the  smooth  waters  of  endowments  is  easy  and  once 
having  drifted  it  is  doubly  difficult  to  take  the  oars  in  hand  again 
and  pull  for  a  definite  mark.  The  system  of  tithing  is  a  severe 
one,  but  it  keeps  an  organization  fit,  though  to  deserve  a  tithe  a 
church  must  be  in  reality  a  station  of  spiritual  and  community 
service.  Instead  of  proving  a  check  on  church  welfare,  endowments 
should  provide  a  greater  incentive  toward  the  development  of  pros- 
perity and  progress.    Their  possession  is  a  trust,  not  a  crutch. 


76 


Chapter  XIII 
A  BACKWARD  LOOK 

MANY  of  the  situations  and  problems  discussed  thus  far  are 
concretely  illustrated  in  Tompkins  County,  which  was  sur- 
veyed in  191 1  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Otis  Gill.  He  made  a 
painstaking  comparison  of  the  conditions  as  he  found  them  with 
those  existing  in  1890.*  The  study  included  membership,  attendance, 
church  expenditures  and  ministers'  salaries.  These  were  taken  as 
indices  of  the  condition  of  the  country  churches  examined  on  these 
points.  This  earlier  study  enabled  Prof.  Dwight  Sanderson,  of  the 
New  York  College  of  Agriculture,  Cornell  University,  who  made 
the  Interchurch  survey  of  Tompkins  County  in  1920,  to  formulate 
comparisons  between  the  figures  gathered  by  him  and  those  of  Gill 
for  1890  and  1910.  This  chapter,  therefore,  summarizes  Professor 
Sanderson's  conclusions. 

The  results  of  this  comparison  seem  to  indicate  that  the  country 
church  problem  in  Tompkins  County  is  still  unsolved.  As  was  the 
case  in  a  number  of  churches  elsewhere  for  which  Mr.  Gill  was 
able  to  find  records,  church  attendance  in  Tompkins  County  in  i8()o 
exceeded  church  membership.  Whereas  19.7  per  cent,  of  the  popu- 
lation belonged  to  churches,  attendants  numbered  21  per  cent,  of  the 
people.  By  1910  the  membership,  in  the  face  of  a  decline  of  14.3 
per  cent,  in  population,  had  risen  to  23  per  cent,  of  the  population, 
but  only  71  per  cent,  of  the  members  and  16.3  per  cent,  of  the 
population  were  found  to  attend  church  services.  By  the  end  of 
1920  there  had  been  a  further  loss  in  population  of  4.3  per  cent., 
but  the  total  membership  had  increased  13  per  cent.,  equaling  27 
per  cent,  of  the  population.  Attendants  had,  however,  fallen  to  14 
per  cent,  of  the  population  and  51.8  per  cent,  of  the  membership. 
Even  if  all  but  active  members  be  eliminated  from  the  discussion 
and  it  is  assumed  that  the  church  has  no  further  responsibility 
toward  those  of  its  members  who  have  become  inactive,  attendance 
shows  a  falling  off  of  ten  per  cent,  in  proportion  to  membership  as 
compared  with  1910. 

If  the  county  be  taken  as  a  whole,  there  has  been  a  net  increase 

*  For  the  detailed  results  of  this  survey  and  for  a  full  description  of  tlie 
method  used  see  "The  Country  Church,"  by  C.  O.  Gill  and  Gifford  Pinchot; 
Macmillan  Company;  1913. 

77 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 


of  13  per  cent,  in  church  membership  in  the  last  thirty  years,  almost 
all  of  it  in  the  last  decade.  This  has  been  in  the  face  of  a  loss  in 
population  of  17.96  per  cent.  This  gain  has  been  registered  by  five 
of  the  nine  townships,  eight  of  which  have  lost  in  populaticpn.  In 
attendance  there  has  been,  however,  a  decline  of  45.1  per  cent,  in 
thirty  years  and  of  17.9  per  cent,  in  the  last  decade. 

The  exact  situation  for  the  county  as  a  whole  and  for  each 
separate  township  is  set  forth  in  the  table  on  the  page  opposite.* 

An  analysis  of  the  financial  situation  discloses  a  somewhat 
different  story.    There  has  been  a  steady  increase  in  the  number  of 


50 

0) 

(D     40 
a 

b     30 
^     20 


Comparative    Trends    of  Population, 
Church  Membership  and  Attendance 

-  Tompkins   County  - 


10 


o   -30 


Church  Membership 


50 
40 
30 
20 
10 


-10 


1890 


1900 


1910 


1920 


-20 
-30 

-40 
-50 


1930 


c 
o 


dollars  contributed,  an  increase  especially  marked  in  the  last  decade 

and  shared  in  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  by  every  township  but  one. 

During  the  last  thirty  years  the  purchasing  power  of  the  dollar 

has,   however,    been    steadily   shrinking.      Contributions    later   than 

1890  were,  therefore,  reduced  to  terms  of  their  purchasing  power 

in  1890  dollars.     From  this  point  of  view  there  has  been  a  decline 

in  total   giving  though   a  marked   increase   in   benevolences.     The 

influence  of  the  great  denominational  and  interdenominational  drives 

and  missionary  campaigns,  beginning  with  the  Laymen's  Missionary 

Movement  and  the  Missionary  Education  Movement,  is  clearly  in 

evidence  here.     All  these  campaigns  of  education  and  stewardship 

*  The  figures  for  1890  and   1910  in  all  tables  in  this  chapter  are  quoted 
from  "The  Country  Church,"  by  Gill  and  Pinchot, 

78 


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A  BACKWARD  LOOK 


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79 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

have  been  made  possible  through  the  leadership  and  fidelity  of  the 
ministers  whose  own  recompense  is,  however,  relatively  38  per  cent, 
less  now  than  in  1890.  Two  townships  only  show  increase  in  total 
contributions  when  measured  by  purchasing  power,  and  the  bulk 
of  this  increase  is  accounted  for  by  Groton,  which  has  enjoyed  an 
industrial  expansion  due  to  the  Corona  Typewriter  Works  situated 
there.*  The  tables  following  give  the  detailed  results  of  church 
expenditures  in  terms  of  dollars  raised  and  in  terms  of  purchasing 
power. 

EXPENDITURES   OF  THE   CHURCHES   OF  TOMPKINS   COUNTY 
DURING  SPECIFIED  YEARS 

Average  Yearly  Expenditures  Percentage  of  Gain 

in  Dollars  or  Loss 

1886-90    1906-10  1919-20  1890-1910  1890-1920  1910-1920 

County 32,826      35,213  59,780  +7  +82  +70 

Salaries 17,128      17,194  27,127  o  +58  +58 

Benevolences  . .       2,821        5,271  17,809  +87  +531  +  238 

Improvement  . .       6,430        3,522  —  —  —  45  — 

Toiimships 

Caroline 4,388  2,649  2,327  —   40  —   47  —    12 

Danby 2,539  1,529  4,532  —   40  +79  +196 

Dryden 2,744  6,335  ii,5io  +131  +  3i9  +    82 

Enfield 1,513  1,712  2,284  +    I3  +    5i  +33 

Groton 4,012  4,216  16,498  +5  +311  +291 

Lansing 3,857  5,077  5,232  +32  +36  +3 

Newfield 4,187  2,951  4,835  —   25  +15  +64 

Ulysses 7,586  10,744  12,562  +42  +66  +17 

EXPENDITURES   OF  THE   CHURCHES   OF  TOMPKINS   COUNTY 

EXPRESSED    IN    TERMS   OF   THE   PURCHASING   POWER 

OF  THE   DOLLAR   IN    1890 

Average  Yearly  Expenditures  Per  Cent,  of  Gain  or  Loss 

in  1890  Dollars  in  1890  Dollars 

1886-90    1906-1910    1919-20  1890-1910    1890-1920    1910-1920 

County 32,826        26,880        23,352  — 18            ^29         —    13 

Salaries 17,128        13,125        10,596  — 22,            —    38         —    19 

Benevolences     2,821          4,024          6,956  +43            +  I47         +    73 

Improvements   6,430          2,689            • —  ■ —  58                —                 ■ — 

Tozvnships 

Caroline 4,388  2,022  909  —  54  —   79  —   55 

Danby 2,539  1,167  1,770  —54  —30  +52 

Dryden 2,744  4,836  4,496  +76  +    64-68  —     7    • 

Enfield 1,513  1,307  893  —14  —   41  —   2>2 

Groton 4,012  3,218  6444  — 20  +61  +100 

Lansing 3,857  3,876  2,044                    o  —   47  —   47 

Newfield 4,187  2,253  1,889  —46  —   55  —    16 

Ulysses 7,586  8,201  4,907  +8  —   35  —   40 

*  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  last  three  census  periods  the  average 
value  of  the  farms  of  Tompkins  County  has  fallen  steadily,  and  from 
$3,270  is  now  $2,550. 

80 


A  BACKWARD  LOOK 


HOW  THE  DIMINISHING  DOLLAR  IS  SPENT 

TOMPKINS    COUNTY 


1890- 


■1910- 


■1920- 


Although   gifts  in  dollars  have  increased  82% 
in  30  years,  the  purchasing  power  of  these  dollars 
has  decreased  29%  in  the  same  period. 


CHART   VII 


The  facts  here  given  are  open  to  the  reader's  own  interpretation. 
To  the  author  they  seem  to  indicate  the  inefficiency  and  wastefulness 
of  the  haphazard  system  of  denominational  competition.    There  are 


A    LIVE    CHURCH    IN    TOMPKINS    COUNTY 
Presbyterian  Church  at  Trumansburg 

fifty-seven  churches  in  Tompkins  County.  Thirty-seven  of  them 
now  have  less  than  fifty  active  members  and  all  but  nine  of  the  fifty- 
seven  compete  more  or  less  with  other  churches  for  the  attention  of 
the   people,    although    in   a    dozen   cases    such   competition    covers 

81 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

one-third  or  less  of  the  parishes  involved.  Weak  and  feeble  as  they 
are,  they  are  losing  their  lives  because  they  seek  to  save  them.  They 
are  for  the  most  part  devoid  of  any  all-round  program.  Their 
failure  is  evidenced  by  the  response  of  the  membership  to  the  chal- 
lenge of  world-wide  Christian  statesmanship  as  registered  in  giving, 
and  by  the  steady  loss  of  interest  in  the  local  work  as  shown  by  the 
declining  attendance  in  most  churches  and  the  increasing  interest 
and  attention  freely  given  to  the  Red  Cross,  the  Farm  Bureau  and 
other  such  useful  agencies.  Those  churches  within  the  county  which 
are  conducting  their  work  on  a  broad  basis  and  which  are  emphasiz- 
ing an  all-round  program  of  worship,  education  and  service  are 
gaining  in  every  respect.  Unrestrained  denominationalism  has  had 
full  sway  in  Tompkins  County  these  many  years.  The  results  cry 
to  heaven.  An  inter-denominational,  statesmanlike  plan  of  county- 
wade  action  and  service  in  which  all  now  at  work  might  share  could 
do  no  worse  and  might  do  much  better.  Here  is  a  situation  in  which 
the  Vermont  plan  might  well  be  tried.  Tompkins  County  has  long 
ago  learned  the  value  of  economic  cooperation.  Might  not  this  plan 
of  federation  be  applied  here  with  success?  Other  agencies  have 
become  "going"  organizations  by  joining  forces.  Certain  it  is  that 
the  day  has  come  when  it  is  not  a  question  of  whether  to  save  the 
Church,  but  how  to  save  it. 


82 


Chapter  XIV 
CONCERNING  THE  RURAL  PASTOR 

UPON  the  vision  and  aggressiveness  of  the  ministers  in  a  large 
measure  depend  the  impact  which  the  Church  makes  upon  the 
community  and  the  response  which  the  community  gives  to 
the  Church. 

Ninety-two  pastors  serve  the  144  churches  in  the  three  counties 
studied.  Of  this  number,  thirty-one  are  in  Addison,  twenty-six  are 
in  Warren  and  thirty-five  pastors  are  in  Tompkins  County.  Nine- 
teen of  these  men  have  other  occupations,  in  addition  to  their  min- 
isterial work.  Eleven  churches  were  pastorless  at  the  time  of  the 
survey.  Seventy-nine  churches  have  pastors  resident  in  their 
parishes,  fifty-four  churches  are  served  by  non-resident  pastors. 
Only  twenty-four  of  the  eighty-two  communities  of  the  three 
counties  have  full-time  resident  pastors,  Warren  County  having  but 
one  community  with  pastors  who  serve  but  one  church  each  and 
follow  no  other  occupation.  Nearly  58  per  cent,  of  the  pastors 
serve  one  point  each.  Twenty-five  pastors  serve  two  points,  eleven 
serve  three  points.  There  is  only  one  six-point  circuit  in  the  three 
counties. 

The  question  of  pastors'  salaries  has  an  important  bearing  upon 
efficiency,  and  the  seriousness  of  this  question  has  been  increased  by 
recent  high  costs  aflfecting  the  professional  classes  more  than  any 
other.  Inadequate  salaries  are  one  cause  of  the  restlessness  every- 
where in  evidence  in  the  rural  ministry.  From  69  to  75  per  cent,  of 
the  pastors  are  receiving  less  than  $1,500  a  year.  Some  day, 
America's  rural  ministry  will  show  evidence  of  more  than  a  silent 
strike.  Under  present  conditions  it  is  not  surprising  that  ministers 
cease  to  be  ministers  and  that  young  men  are  entering  the  rural 
ministry  in  fewer  numbers.  When  it  is  realized  that,  in  the  three 
counties  studied,  there  are  ten  pastors  receiving  salaries  of  less  than 
$500,  seven  receiving  from  $500  to  $750,  and  twenty-five  receiving 
$1,000  or  less,  it  is  not  surprising  that  two-thirds  of  the  churches 
have  had  three  or  more  different  pastors  each  during  the  last  decade. 
One  of  the  most  serious  drawbacks  to  the  growth  of  churches  is  the 
short  pastorates  which  prevail  throughout  our  rural  areas.     One 

83 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

church  has  been  served  by  nine  different  pastors  during  the  last  ten 
years. 

Seventy-seven  per  cent,  of  the  pastors  are  trained  men.  Eighteen 
are  college  graduates,  nine  are  graduates  of  seminary  or  Bible 
schools  and  forty-four,  nearly  50  per  cent.,  are  graduates  of  both. 
Yet  the  average  salary  paid  in  the  three  counties  is  only  $1,289, 
including  $250  added  as  average  rental  value  of  parsonages  when 
provided.  Warren  County  averages  higher  than  the  other  two  coun- 
ties in  this  respect,  the  average  salary  of  the  summer  resort  com- 


SALARY    SCALE    OF    THE    MINISTERS 


44 

Ministers 


Ministers 


Ministers 

n 


..23 

Ministers 


Under  $500-  $1000-  Over 

$500  $1000  S1500  J1500 

ANNUAL   SALARY 

75%  of  the  mfnisters   receive  less   than  $1500  a  year 


CHART    VIII 


munities  being  $1,557.  Tompkins  County,  though  the  best  organized, 
pays  the  smallest  average  salary  of  $1,177,  ^^id  three-fourths  of  its 
pastors  are  trained  men.  The  churches  of  these  counties  believe  in 
the  resident  pastor.  Seventy-two  per  cent,  of  Addison  County's 
churches  are  served  by  resident  pastors,  yet  only  in  certain  instances 
are  they  receiving  a  Hving  wage.  Without  adequate  means  of  sup- 
port, the  pastors  must  necessarily  remain  only  temporarily  in  a  com- 
munity, and  with  the  rapid  succession  of  pastors  serving  its  churches 
there  can  be  only  a  passing  acquaintance  between  the  people  and  their 
religious  leaders  and  a  lack  of  mutual  understanding  as  the  result. 
Too  few  churches  offer  the  best  sort  of  field  for  the  pastor. 
He  comes  hopeful  and  optimistic  as  the  reports  on  the  future  of  the 
different  churches  show.     In  a  year  or  two  the  actual  situation  re- 

84 


CONCERNING  THE  RURAL  PASTOR 

veals  itself  in  all  its  hopelessness  and  the  minister  seeks  another 
charge.  The  frequency  of  these  changes  has  probably  several  deter- 
mining causes.  There  may  be  faults  on  the  side  of  both  pastors 
and  people— but  the  condition  calls  for  attention  among  church 
leaders,  for  the  churches  are  stationary  while  the  pastors  come 
and  go. 


85 


Chapter  XV 
CONCLUSION 

ADDISON,  Tompkins  and  Warren  Counties  together  present 
a  land  of  beautiful  scenery,  a  land  of  "romantic  realism" 
and  a  people  facing  certain  vital,  difficult  problems  bearing 
on  future  church  and  community  life. 

There  are  hill  towns  struggling  for  mere  existence,  with  an  ever 
declining  population.  There  are  communities  finding  themselves 
through  the  development  of  industry.  There  are  summer  resort 
centers  keenly  alive  during  the  vacation  season  and  existing  in  a 
state  of  comparative  lethargy  during  the  rest  of  the  year.  Indiffer- 
ence exists  everywhere.  Churches  are  declining  in  members  and 
enthusiasm  for  service  through  lack  of  leadership  and  short-termed 
pastorates.  New  Americans  and  the  farmers  from  the  West  have 
found  it  difficult  to  break  down  the  barriers  of  individualistic  com- 
munities and  are  still  very  largely  on  the  "outside  of  things."  Agri- 
cultural organizations  are  found  doing  the  church's  share  of  supply- 
ing young  people's  programs.  Again  and  again  have  been  heard 
calls  for  community  houses,  unanswered  nearly  all  of  them.  There 
are  overchurched  communities  in  which  there  is  need  for  some  such 
action  as  that  undertaken  in  the  Vermont  plan,  and  there  are  others 
absolutely  neglected  as  to  religious  service.  Pastors  are  everywhere 
striving  to  serve  without  adequate  salaries  and  without  the  encour- 
agement, support  or  equipment  necessary  for  any  measure  of  success. 

On  the  other  hand,  people  are  awakening  to  the  realization  that 
the  day  of  reconstruction  is  near.  Dawn  is  approaching,  and  there- 
fore they  are  waiting,  undiscouraged.  They  are  ready  for  the 
weeding  out  of  prejudice,  indifference  and  neglect.  Town  and 
county  are  meeting  as  friends  and  co-workers,  as  is  evidenced  by  the 
interest  of  Glens  Falls  churches  in  the  larger  parish  plan.  There 
are  leaders  all  along  the  line  who  are  demanding  better  conditions 
in  agriculture,  education  and  business  enterprise.  What  then,  shall 
be  said  of  these  problems  that  have  presented  themselves  for  un- 
raveling in  the  churches? 

Underlying  the  several  problems  discussed  in  the  foregoing 
chapters  are  a  few  basic  facts.    One  of  these  is  that  there  are  many 

86 


CONCLUSION 

churches  for  the  people.  The  average  is  two  and  one-half  Protestant 
congregations  for  every  one  thousand  men,  women  and  children. 
If  the  probable  Catholic  population  be  deducted,  the  average  is  a 
little  more  than  three  churches  for  every  thousand  of  population. 
The  second  fact  is  that  memberships  are  very  small.  Two-thirds  of 
the  churches  have  fifty  active  members  or  less,  though  the  average 
for  the  region  is  55  per  cent.  This  means  that  the  churches  are 
weak.  The  small  memberships  mean  inability  to  have  strong  or- 
ganizations and  to  impress  the  community.  The  Church  then  ceases 
to.  be  a  social  institution  of  considerable  value  and  ceases  to  be 
dynamic  enough  to  lead  the  individual  into  a  sense  of  triumphant 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    MEMBERSHIP 


MALES 


I  females! 


•  CHART    IX 


living  that  comes  through  fellowship  with  the  Church's  Founder. 
The  third  underlying  factor  in  this  situation  is  the  sinall  number  of 
young  people  within  the  membership  of  these  churches.  It  is  a 
fact  which  makes  their  future  even  more  dark  than  the  figures,  taken 
at  their  surface  value,  would  indicate.  In  most  of  the  communities 
the  young  people  are  15  per  cent,  or  less  of  the  total  church  mem- 
bership, whereas  elsewhere  in  the  country  the  average  is  around 
25  per  cent.  The  few  towns  in  these  counties  bring  the  total  average 
a  little  higher  than  15  per  cent,  but  in  the  smaller  churches,  which 
constitute  two-thirds  of  the  total  number,  the  young  folks  are  the 
smallest  element  in  the  church  membership. 

Numerous  suggestions  bearing  on  the  solution  of  this  and  other 
problems   discussed   which   are   scattered   through   the   text   can   be 

87 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

summarized  in  one  word — cooperation.  The  decrease  in  population, 
the  increased  facilities  for  transportation,  the  trend  of  the  times,  the 
lack  of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  people  themselves  in  the  Church 
as  shown  by  decreasing  attendance,  these  and  other  things  condemn 
the  present  system,  at  least  if  judged  by  the  results  which  it  has 
produced.  Cooperation  among  the  churches  of  these  counties,  en- 
couraged and  nurtured  by  the  overhead  denominational  officials, 
could  work  out  a  series  of  advanced  steps  which  are  greatly  needed. 
Among  them  are  these : 

I.     ADEQUATE   EVANGELISM 

At  the  present  time  there  is  indifference  to  the  Church.  The 
people  are  not  hearing  its  message  as  once  they  did.  The  young 
people  are  drifting  from  its  influence.  There  are  neglected  areas 
within  some  of  these  counties,  notably  in  Addison.  Here  and  there 
are  neglected  groups  of  people,  such  as  some  of  the  foreigners  who 
have  moved  into  Tompkins  County  or  some  of  the  summer  resort 
people  in  Addison  County.  Adequate  understanding  among  the 
churches,  together  with  a  united  program,  would  remedy  this  situa- 
tion to  an  appreciable  degree. 

2.     STRONGER   CHURCHES 

The  "Vermont  plan,"  described  in  Chapter  X,  needs  to  be  tried 
in  every  one  of  these  counties.  It  is  the  only  thing  which  can  pre- 
vent religious  decadence.  The  churches  at  present,  weak  as  they  are, 
make  no  appeal  to  the  unchurched.  They  are  self -condemned.  With 
a  century  or  more  of  history  behind  them  in  which  to  appeal  for 
service  and  interest,  they  confess  by  what  they  are  that  they  have 
been  unable  to  hold  their  own  in  the  estimation  of  the  community 
or  that  they  have  been  unable  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  changing- 
conditions  around  them.  Most  of  these  communities  need  just  one 
church  and  until  they  get  it  with  the  blessing  and  help  of  the  de- 
nominational executives  the  cause  of  Christ  will  suffer. 


3.     RESIDENT    MINISTERS 

The  churches  in  these  counties  have  made  a  brave  struggle  to 
retain  resident  ministers.  To  a  large  extent  they  have  succeeded,  but 
at  the  expense  of  the  ministers  themselves.  What  is  happening  is, 
however,  shown  in  Tompkins  and  Warren  Counties.    The  latter  has 


CONCLUSION 

only  one  community  out  of  twenty-eight  in  which  there  is  a  full-time 
resident  pastor.  By  a  comity  agreement  among  denominations,  so 
that  there  would  be  one  denominational  church  in  each  of  the  smaller 
communities,  it  would  be  possible  to  secure  the  resident  leadership 
of  a  trained  minister  of  religion,  who  could  furnish  the  inspiration 
and  executive  direction  for  an  adequate  program  of  spiritual  and 
community  service  on  the  part  of  the  church. 

4.     LONGER    PASTORATES 

A  resident  minister  with  a  man-sized  job  serving  the  one  church 
in  a  community  would  be  more  eager  to  stay  longer  in  his  field.  At 
the  present  time  the  constant  turn-over  on  the  part  of  the  ministers  is 
unsettling  the  whole  church  situation.  Few  of  them  stay  long  enough 
to  do  abiding  work.  Until  ministers  are  willing  to  invest  years  of 
their  lives  in  touching  the  lives  of  people  individually  and  in  their 
social  relationships  through  the  community,  the  Church  cannot  make 
its  greatest  contribution. 

5.     LARGER   SALARIES 

Stronger  churches  with  resident  ministers  spending  four  to  ten 
years  in  a  community  would  bring  a  response  from  the  people  that 
would  insure  the  larger  salaries  necessary  to  obtain  this  type  of 
service.  The  average  salaries  of  the  ministers  in  these  counties  is 
a  disgrace  to  the  Church.  Including  the  value  of  the  parsonage, 
where  it  is  given  free  of  charge,  the  average  salary  is  $1,289.30. 
Ministers  cannot  sustain  adequate  family  life  on  this  figure.  Under 
the  present  system,  however,  they  can  never  hope  for  any  larger 
economic  return. 

6.     BROADER    PROGRAMS 

A  resident  minister,  free  of  the  necessity  for  worrying  about  the 
next  meal  for  his  family  or  the  next  suit  of  clothes  for  himself. 
and  well  trained  in  the  tasks  of  the  Church,  can  become  director  of 
an  all-round  program  which  is  so  much  needed  in  most  of  these 
communities.  Boys  and  girls  must  be  won.  One  avenue  to  their 
lives  is  through  recreation.  Communities  need  to  be  socialized. 
The  Church,  which  is  vitally  interested  in  economic  progress  and  is 
more  sensitive  to  economic  changes  than  any  other  social  institution, 
needs  to  cooperate  with  those  organizations  which  make  for  economic 

89 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

and  social  progress.    The  program  of  the  Church  must  be  all-week- 
through,  all-year-around. 


THE  ONLY  COMMUNITY-MINDED  CHURCH  IN  WARREN  COUNTY 
The  Methodist   Episcopal   Church   at   Chestertown,   N.   Y. 


7.     MORE    EQUIPMENT 

The  type  of  program  outlined  above,  under  the  direction  of  the 
type  of  man  who  could  be  procured,  will  soon  call  for  more  equip- 
ment. Class  rooms  will  be  needed  in  the  Sunday  schools,  even  if 
the  dividing  walls  be  but  curtains ;  use  of  pictures  and  stereopticons 
can  be  introduced.  Strong  communities  will  procure  community 
houses.    All  these  things  are  greatly  needed  for  the  bringing  of  an 

90 


CONCLUSION 

abundant  life  to  the  communities  for  the  counties  throughout  this 
region. 

8.     SOUNDER   RELIGIOUS    EDUCATION 

The  Sunday  schools  of  these  counties  are  far  behind  the  best 
practices  of  modern  religious  education.  Even  judged  by  the  stand- 
ards of  the  State  Sunday  School  Associations  they  measure  up  but 
poorly.  First,  there  is  need  for  pressing  the  present  methods  to 
their  fullest  usefulness.  That  done,  if  the  strong  united  church  is 
secured,  stronger  Sunday  schools  will  follow  which  will  become 
church  schools  with  all  that  that  term  implies  in  present-day  thought. 

9.     STRONGER   FOUNDATIONS 

Programs,  such  as  outlined  above,  cannot  be  sustained  without 
the  training  of  leaders.  Only  sixteen  Sunday  schools  train  teachers, 
still  fewer  churches  are  engaged  in  training  volunteer  leadership  for 
the  work  of  the  organizations  of  the  Church.  These  two  tasks  are 
most  important  but  they  can  be  accomplished  as  other  things  are 
done. 

10.     A    BROADER   BASE 

The  Church  organized  along  the  lines  that  have  been  indicated 
in  this  program  will  broaden  its  base  and  stretch  out  to  include  all 
racial  and  economic  groups  within  the  community.  The  neglected 
will  no  longer  be  slighted  and  as  the  home  base  broadens  there  will 
be  still  larger  possibilities  for  world-wide  service  through  the  foreign 
mission  machinery  of  the  Church,  and  more  than  money — lives  will 
be  consecrated  to  service  for  the  Kingdom  of  God. 


91 


Appendix  I 
METHODOLOGY  AND  DEFINITIONS 

THE  method  used  in  the  Town  and  Country  Surveys  of  the 
Interchurch   World    Movement   and    of    the    Committee    on 
Social  and   Religious   Surveys   differs   from  the   method    of 
earlier  surveys  in  this  field  chiefly  in  the  following  particulars : 

1.  "Rural"  was  defined  as  including  all  population  living  outside 
of  incorporated  places  of  more  than  5,000.  Previous  surveys  usually 
excluded  all  places  of  2,500  population  or  over,  which  method  follows 
the  United  States  Census  definition  of  "rural." 

2.  The  local  unit  for  the  assembling  of  material  was  the  com- 
munity, regarded,  usually,  as  the  trade  area  of  a  town  or  village 
center.  Previous  surveys  usually  took  the  minor  civil  division  as 
the  local  unit.  The  disadvantage  of  the  community  unit  is  that 
census  and  other  statistical  data  are  seldom  available  on  that  basis, 
thus  increasing  both  the  labor  involved  and  the  possibility  of  error. 
The  great  advantage  is  that  it  presents  its  results  assembled  on  the 
basis  of  units  having  real  social  significance,  which  the  minor  civil 
division  seldom  has.  This  advantage  is  considered  as  more  than 
compensating  for  the  disadvantage. 

3.  The  actual  service  area  of  each  church  as  indicated  by  the 
residences  of  its  members  and  adherents  was  mapped  and  studied. 
This  was  an  entirely  new  departure  in  rural  surveys. 

Four  chief  processes  were  involved  in  the  actual  field  work  of 
these  surveys: 

1.  The  determination  of  the  community  units  and  of  any  sub- 
sidiary neighborhood  units  included  within  them.  The  community 
boundaries  were  ascertained  by  noting  the  location  of  the  last  family 
on  each  road  leading  out  from  a  given  center  who  regularly  traded 
at  that  center.  These  points,  indicated  on  a  map,  were  connected 
with  each  other  by  straight  lines.  The  area  about  the  given  center 
thus  enclosed  was  regarded  as  the  community. 

2.  The  study  of  the  economic,  social  and  institutional  life  of 
each  community  as  thus  defined. 

3.  The  location  of  each  church  in  the  county,  the  determination 
of  its  parish  area  and  the  detailed  study  of  its  equipment,  finance, 
meml^ership,  organization,  program  and  leadership. 

9.3 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

4.  The  preparation  of  a  map  showing,  in  addition  to  the  usual 
physical  features,  the  boundaries  of  each  community,  the  location, 
parish  area  and  circuit  connections  of  each  church  and  the  residence 
of  each  minister. 

The  following  are  the  more  important  definitions  used  in  the 
making  of  these  surveys  and  the  preparation  of  the  reports: 

GEOGRAPHICAL 

City — a  center  of  over  5,000  population.  Not  included  within 
the  scope  of  these  surveys  except  as  specifically  noted. 

Town — a  center  with  a  population  of  from  2,501  to  5,000. 

Village — a  center  with  a  population  of  from  251  to  2,500. 

Hamlet — any  clustered  group  of  people  not  living  on  farms  whose 
numbers  do  not  exceed  250. 

Open  Country — the  farming  area,  excluding  hamlets  and  other 
centers. 

Country — used  in  a  threefold  division  of  population  included  in 
scope  of  survey  into  Town,  Village  and  Country.  Includes  Hamlets 
and  Open  Country. 

Town  and  Country — the  whole  area  covered  by  these  surveys, 
i.e.,  all  population  living  outside  of  cities. 

Rural — used  interchangeably  with  Town  and  Country. 

Community — that  unit  of  territory  and  of  population  character- 
ized by  common  social  and  economic  interests  and  experiences ;  an 
aggregation  of  people  the  majority  of  whose  interests  have  a  common 
center."  Usually  ascertained  by  determining  the  normal  trade  area 
of  each  given  center.  The  primary  social  grouping  of  sufficient  size 
and  diversity  of  interests  to  be  practically  self-sufficing  in  ordinary 
affairs  of  business,  civil  and  social  life. 

Neutral  Territory — any  area  not  definitely  included  within  the 
area  of  one  community.  Usually  an  area  between  two  or  more 
centers  and  somewhat  influenced  by  each  but  .whose  interests  are  so 
scattered  that  it  cannot  definitely  be  assigned  to  the  sphere  of  in- 
fluence of  any  one  center. 

Neighborhood — a  recognizable  social  grouping  having  certain  in- 
terests in  common  but  dependent  for  certain  elemental  needs  upon 
some  adjacent  center  within  the  community  area  of  which  it  is 
located. 

Rural  Industrial — pertaining  to  any  industry  other  than  farming 
within  the  Town  and  Country  area. 

94 


APPENDIX  I 


POPULATION 


Foreigner — refers    to    foreign-born   and   native-born   of    foreign 
parentage. 

New  Americans — usually  includes  foreign-born  and  native-born 
of  foreign  or  mixed  parentage,  but  sometimes  refers  only  to  more 
recent  immigration.  In  each  case  the  exact  meaning  is  clear  from 
the  context. 

THE  CHURCH 

Parish — the  area  within  which  the  members  and  regular  attend- 
ants of  a  given  church  live. 

Circuit — two  or  more  churches  combined  under  the  direction  of 
one  minister. 

Resident  Pastor — a  church  whose  minister  lives  within  its  parish 
area  is  said  to  have  a  resident  pastor. 

Full-time  Resident  Pastor — a  church  with  a  resident  pastor  who 
serves  no  other  church  and  follows  no  other  occupation  than  the 
ministry  is  said  to  have  a  full-time  resident  pastor. 

Part-time  Pastor — a  church  whose  minister  either  serves  another 
church  also  or  devotes  part  of  his  time  to  some  regular  occupation 
other  than  the  ministry,  or  both,  is  said  to  have  a  part-time  minister. 

N on-Resident  Member — one  carried  on  the  rolls  of  a  given  church 
but  living  too  far  away  to  permit  regular  attendance ;  generally,  any 
member  living  outside  the  community  in  which  the  church  is  located 
unless  he  is  a  regular  attendant. 

Inactive  Member — one  who  resides  within  the  parish  area  of  the 
church  but  who  neither  attends  its  services  nor  contributes  to  its 
support. 

Net  Active  Membership — the  resultant  membership  of  a  given 
church  after  the  number  of  non-resident  and  inactive  members  is 
deducted  from  the  total  on  the  church  roll. 

Per  Capita  Contributions  or  Expenditures — the  total  amount  con- 
tributed or  expended  divided  by  the  number  of  the  net  active 
membership. 

Budget  System — A  church  which  at  the  beginning  of  the  fiscal 
year  makes  an  itemized  forecast  of  the  entire  amount  of  money 
required  for  its  maintenance  during  the  year  as  a  basis  for  a  canvass 
of  its  membership  for  funds  is  said  to  operate  on  a  budget  system 
with  respect  to  its  local  finances.  If  amounts  to  be  raised  for  de- 
nominational or  other  benevolences  are  included  in  the  forecast  and 

95 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 

canvass,  it  is  said  to  operate  on  a  budget  system  for  all  moneys  raised. 

Adequate  Financial  System — three  chief  elements  are  recognized 
in  an  adequate  financial  system:  a  budget  system,  an  annual  every- 
member  canvass  and  the  use  of  envelopes  for  the  weekly  payment  of 
subscriptions. 

Receipts — receipts  have  been  divided  under  three  heads : 

a.  Subscriptions,  that  is,  moneys  received  in  payment  of  annual 
pledges. 

b.  Collections,  that  is  money  received  from  free-will  offerings  at 
public  services. 

c.  All  other  sources  of  revenue,  chiefly  proceeds  of  entertain- 
ments and  interest  on  endowments. 

Salary  of  Minister — inasmuch  as  some  ministers  receive  in  addi- 
tion to  their  cash  salary  the  free  use  of  a  house  while  others  do 
not,  a  comparison  of  the  cash  salaries  paid  is  misleading.  In  all 
salary  comparisons,  therefore,  the  cash  value  of  a  free  parsonage  is 
arbitrarily  stated  as  $250  a  year  and  that  amount  is  added  to  the  cash 
salary  of  each  minister  with  free  parsonage  privileges.  Thus  an 
average  salary  stated  as  $1,450  is  equivalent  to  $1,200  cash  and  the 
free  use  of  a  house. 


96 


Appendix  II 


TABLES 
I.    POPULATION,  1890-1920 


,, — Tompkins  County,  N.  Y 
Urban-incorporated 
Addison  County,     places  of  5,000 


Year  Vt. 

1920  18,666 

1910  20,010 

1900  21.912 

1890  '2.2,2TJ 

Gain  or 

loss  Minus 

1890-1920  3,611 — 16% 


or  more 

18,484 
14,802 
13,136 
11,079 


Plus 
7,405—67% 


Rxiral 
16.801 
18.845 
20,694 
21,844 


, — Warren  County,  N.  Y 
Urban-incorporated 
places  of  3,000 
or  more 


16,638 

15,243 
12,613 

9,509 


Rural 

15,035 
16,980 
17,330 
18,357 


Minus  Plus  Minus 

5,043—24%     7,129—75%     3,322— 227o 


2.    DISTRIBUTION    OF   RURAL   POPULATION,    1920 


County 


Addison,   Vt 7,935 

Tompkins,  N.  Y. 
Warren,  N.  Y.. 


No. 

Popu- 

Popula- 

Total 

No. 

increas- 

lation 

tion  in 

Rural 

of 

ing  in 

in  Vil- 

Coun- 

Popula- 

Commun- 

Popu- 

lages 

try 

tion 

ities 

lation 

7,935 

10,731 

18,666 

26 

3 

7,777 

9,024 

16,801 

28 

5.731 

9.304 

15,035 

28 

c 

Total 21443     29,059 


50,502 


82 


3.     FARM   FACTS 

Addison  County,     Tompkins  County,     Warren  County, 

Vt.  N.  Y.  N.  Y. 

Number  of  Farms....  2,375  2,550  1,564 

Per  Cent,  of   Decrease 

in   No.,    1900-1920...  12%  22%  26% 

Per    Cent,    of    Land 

Area   in    Farms 77-1%  83.3%  38.2% 

Per    Cent,    of    Farm 

Land    Improved 58.4%  73-7%  37-5% 

Average  Number  Acres 

per   Farm 157. 1%  99-5%  137.0% 

Average     Value      per 

Farm    $9,787  $8,1 10  $4,820 

Average  Value  of  Land 

per    Acre $     22.76  $     29.,38  $      12.96 

Per  Cent.  Owners 77^0  82%  80% 

Per  Cent.  Tenants  ....  23%  18%  20% 

97 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 


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98 


APPENDIX  II 


7.    NUMBER   OF   CHURCHES    BY   DENOMINATION 

Denomination  Addison,  Vt.     Tompkins,  N.  Y.     Warren,  N.  Y.     Total 

Methodist  Episcopal....  14  29  15  eg 

Protestant    Episcopal...  46  9  ig 

Baptist     .. 4  10  4  18 

Congregationalist     8  5                                jo 

Wesleyan    Alethodist. . .  —  I  78 

Presbyterian — U.S.A...  —  2-3  5 

Union   or    Community.  .  —  —  5  S 
Federated     Baptist     and 

Methodist   Episcopal.  .4  —  —  a 

Orthodox    Friends 21  —  -7 

Pentecostal    Holiness...  —  —  3  3 

Universalist    —  I                                j 

Christian     —  I                                i 

Brethren    —  I                                i 

Christian  and  Missionary 

Alliance     —  —  I  | 

Advent   Christian i  —                               j 

Pentecostal    Nazarene  .  .  i  —  .  i 
Federated     Congrega- 
tional  and   Methodist.  i  —  _-  j 
Congregational     yoked 
with    Methodist    Epis- 
copal      I  —                              J 

Total    40  57  47  144 


8.  VALUE  OF  CHURCH  PROPERTY 

Addison,  Vt.  Warren,  N.  Y.     Tompkins,  N.  Y. 

No.  of  Church  build- 
ings    42  46                            57 

Total   value $298,250  $153,373  $273,350 

Average  value 7,101  3,334                       4,796 

No.  of  parsonages.  32  23                             31 

Total    value $  75.250  $  50^975  $  64.956 

Average  value  2,352  2,216                       2,095 

No.  of  other  build- 
ings    7  6                              6 

Total    value $    7,820  $36,000  $  11,650 

Average  value 1,117  6,000                       1,942 


Total 


I4S 
$724,973 
5,000 

86 
$191,181 
2,223 


19 
$  55,470 
2,919 


99 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 


9.     SIZE    OF    CHURCH    MEMBERSHIPS 

Church  Membership    Addison,  Vt.     Warren,  N.Y.  Tompkins,  N.  Y.       Total 

o  to     25 8                         16  15  39 

26  to     50 13                         14  22  49 

51   to   100 9                          8  13  30 

lOI    to     150 7                                    3  I  II 

Over  150 3                           I  6  ID 

Total 40                       42  57  139 

(5  churches  (5  churches 

without  without 

membership  membership 

figures)  figures) 


10.    INCREASE   AND    DECREASE    IN    MEMBERSHIP  DURING 
THE    LAST    10    YEARS  • 

Couniy  ^ Number  of  Churches ^     Total 

Gaining  Losing  Stationary 

Addison,  Vt 15                   21                       4  40 

Warren,  N.  Y 14                   15                     18  47 

Tompkins,  N.  Y 26                   26                       5  57 

Total    55                  62                    27  144 


II.    MEMBERSHIP  OF  CHURCHES,    1920 

Membership            Addison, Vt.     Warren,  N.Y.     Tompkins,  N.Y.  Total 

Net    Active 2,777                    2,030                     3,357  8.164 

Non-resident     770                        211                         836  1,817 

Non-active    142                       239                        484  865 

Total    Enrollment...         3,689                    2,480                     4,677  10,846 


12.    NUMBER    OF   FAMILIES    IN    CHURCH    MEMBERSHIP 


Number  of 
Families  in 

Village    Churches 

Country    Churches. . . . 

Total 


Addison,  Vt.     Warren,  N.  Y. 


685 
721 

1,406 


480 
302 

782 


Tompkins,  N.  Y.     Total 

966  2,131 

928  1,951 


1,894 


4,082 


100 


APPENDIX  II 


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101 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 


i6.    CHURCHES  GAINING  AND  LOSING  DURING  ONE-YEAR 

PERIOD 


County 


Gaining  Losing  Stationary 

Number    Per  Cent.    Number    Per  Cent.    Number    Per  Cent. 


Addison,   Vt 

II 

28 

15 

37 

H 

35 

Warren.  N.  Y.. 

19 

40 

7 

15 

21 

45 

Tompkins,  N.  Y. 

25 

44 

21 

37 

II 

19 

55 


38 


43 


30 


46 


32 


17.    ANNUAL  EXPENSE. 

Addison  County, 
Vt 

Salaries 
$28,476.39 

Benevolences 
$  8.530.41 

Other 
$11,319.65 

Total  Expenditures 
$  48,326.45 

Warren  County, 
N.  Y 

59% 
24,419.10 

18% 
9,693.12 

23% 
15,532.20 

49,644.42 

Tompkins  County, 
N.  Y 

49% 
27,881.77 

20% 
17,671.21 

31% 
19,845.87 

65,398.85 

43% 
$80,777.26 

27% 
$35,894.74 

30% 

Total 

$46,697.72 

$163,369.72 

49% 

22% 

29% 

18.  AVERAGE  PER  CAPITA  EXPENSE 

Addison  County,  Warren  County,  Tompkins  County, 

Vt.  N.  Y.                             N.  Y. 

Open  Open                                Open 

Village     Country  Village     Country  Village     Country 

Salary $8.57        $13.01  $11.52        $13.82  $7.91        $8.94 

Benevolence  .       3.37            2.59  5.90            3.07                 5.63            4.71 

Other 5.10            2.40  7.99            7.58                 6.82            4.54 

Total $17.04        $18.00  $25.41        $24.47  $20.36        $18.19 


102 


APPENDIX  II 


19.    HOW   THE  TYPICAL   CHURCH    DOLLAR    IS    SPENT 

Addison  County,  Warren  County,  Tompkins  County, 

Vt.  N.  Y.  N.  Y. 

Open  Open  Open 

Village    Country  Village     Country  Village    Country 

Salary $0.30          $0.72  $0.46         $0.56  $0.39         $0.49 

Benevolence  .       .20              .15  .23              .13  .28             .26 

Other 50              .13  .31              .31  -33              -25 

Total    $1.00          $1.00  $1.00          $1.00  $1.00          $1.00 


20.    THE  MINISTER 


Number  of 

Number 

Communities 

imth 

Number 

zvith 

Number 

other 

Number 

Number 

with 

Full-time 

of 

occu- 

Resident 

Non- 

no 

Resident 

Pastors 

pation 

in  Parish 

Re  side  nt 

Pastor 

Pastor 

Addison 

County,  Vt...       31 

5 

29 

ID 

I 

IS  out  of  26 

Warren 

County,  N.  Y.      26 

5 

25 

16 

6 

I  out  of  28 

Tompkins 

County,  N.  Y.      35 

9 
19 

25 
79 

28 

54 

4 
II 

8  out  of  28 

Totals  ....      92 

24  out  of  82 

21.    PASTORS'  SALARIES 

Average  Range  of      Maximum      Minimum      Average 
Addison  County, 

Vt $i,250-$i,45o  $2,050  $750  $1,321 

Warren   County, 

N.  Y $i,250-$r,5oo  $2,500  $98.10         $1,412 

Tompkins  County, 

N.  Y $i,350-$i,450  $2,050  $250  $1,177 


22.     PASTORAL  TRAINING 

College        Seminary  Both 

Addison  County,  Vt 8                     4  14 

Warren  County,  N.  Y 3                     3  13 

Tompkins  County,  N.  Y 7                     2  17 

Total 18—19%          9—10%  44—48% 

103 


Neither 

5 
7 
9 

21 — 23% 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 


23.    RANGE  OF  SALARIES 
Pastors  Receiving      Addison,  Vt.      Warren,  N,Y.      Tompkins,  N.Y.      Total 


o  to  $   500. 


5  501  to 

751  to 

1,001  to 

1,251  to 

1,501  to 

I,/ 5 1  to 
Over 


750. 
1,000. 
1,250., 
1,500.. 
1,750.. 
2,000. 
2,000. 


Total 


I 
I 
S 
9 
8 

5 
I 
I 

31 


4 
I 
I 

5 
6 

3 
3 
3 

26 


5 
5 
2 
6 
10 

4 
I 
2 

35 


10 

7 

8 

20 

24 
12 

5 
6 

92 


24.    PASTORAL  SERVICE  TO  CHURCHES 


Pastors               Addison,  Warren, 

Serving                    Vt.  N.  Y. 

1  point 25  13 

2  points 3  8 

3  points 2  4 

4  points I  o 

5  points o  o 

6  points o  I 

(31)  (26) 


Tompkins, 
N.Y. 

15 

14 

•      S 

I 

o 

o 

(35) 


Total  Number 
Pastors  Serving 

53 
25 
II 

2 

o 

(92) 


25.    PASTORS'    SALARIES    CLASSIFIED   ACCORDING   TO   TYPES 
OF   COMMUNITIES 

Summer        Non-  All  3 

Industrial        Resort        resort        Hill  Valley  Counties 

Maximum $1,800            $2,500        $1,850      $1,750  $2,050  $2,500 

Minimum 585                 975               98.10      375  375                 98.10 

Average   1,178             1,557          1.225        1,203  1,324           1,289.30 


104 


APPENDIX  II 


26.    SUNDAY  SCHOOLS 

Per 

Per  cent. 

cent.     Aver-  of         Aver-      Ntim- 

of          age  Total       total         age           her 

total    Enroll-  Aver-    Sunday  Attend-    pupils 

Number     Total     Church     ment  age      School      ance        from 
of        Enroll-     Enroll-      per     Atteiid-    Enroll-     per        farm 

Schools      ment       ment      School  ance       ment     School     Homes 
Addison, 

Vt 37        2140            58            58  1262          59            34          1202 

Warren, 

N.  Y 36        1880            76            52  1 168          62            32            595 

Tompkins, 

N.  Y 50        3781             80           175  1981           52            40           1847 

Total...     123        7801  72  63        441 1  57  36  3644 

279  (Memberships  of  9  separate  Sunday  Schools) 
Total  8080 

Sunday  School  enrollment  of  3  counties. 
(70%  of  Church  Enrollment) 


27.    SUNDAY  SCHOOL  STATISTICS 

Addison,       Warren,       To 

A^umher  of  Sunday  Schools  Having:  Vt.  N.  Y. 

Provision   for  leadership 3  3 

Efforts   to   increase   attendance 15  8 

Organized    departments 18  3 

Cradle   rolls 24  14 

Home    departments 15  12 

Teacher  training  classes 8  2 

Sunday  School  papers 34  24 

Libraries     25  14 

Home   Mission   study 21  19 

Annual    picnics 26  17 

Socials 17  II 

Other  social  times  as  a  whole 14  13 

Other  organizations o  i 

Classes     to     prepare     for     chvirch 

membership    2  9 

Number  pui)ils  beyond  High  School  75  24 
Number    i)ui)ils    entering    Christian 

work  during  last   10  years 8  6 

Number   pupils   joining   church   last 

year    84  58 

From  how  many  churches 15  12 


nipkins, 

Tola 

N.Y. 

I 

7 

17 

40 

13 

34 

22 

60 

24 

51 

6 

16 

48 

106 

19 

58 

23 

63 

42 

85 

28 

.S6 

26 

53 

8 

9 

15 

26 

81 

180 

20 

34 

134 

276 

23 

50 

105 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  IN  COLONIAL  COUNTIES 


28.    PUBLIC    SCHOOL    VERSUS    SUNDAY    SCHOOL 
ENROLLMENT 


Addison,  Vt 

Warren,  N.  Y 

Tompkins,  N.  Y.  ... 

Total 8906 


Total  Number 

Young  People 

Total 

Under  21  in 

Number  in 

Percentage  of 

Rural  Popula- 

Rural Churches 

Public  School 

tion  Attending 

Attending 

Pupils  in 

Public  Schools 

Sunday  Schools 

Sunday  School 

3400 

2140 

63% 

2443 

1880 

77% 

3063 

3781 

123% 

7801 


88% 


29.    AVERAGE    PER    CAPITA    CONTRIBUTION    IN    RESORT   AND 
NON-RESORT   COMMUNITIES  OF  WARREN   COUNTY,  N.  Y. 

Expenses:  22  Resort  Churches  Average  Per  Capita 

Salaries - 56%  $14-97 

Benevolences ii^%  4.17 

Other 29%  7.85 

$26.99 
Receipts: 

Subscription 56%  $15.16 

Collection 35%  9.66 

Other 9%  2.29 

$27.11 

Expenses:  25  Non-Resort  Churches        Average  Per  Capita 

Salaries 42%  $9.12 

Benevolences 24%  5.37 

Other 34%  7.4s 

$21.94 
Receipts: 

Subscription 87%  $19.03 

Collection 8%  1.87 

Other 5%  i.os 

$21.95 


106 


UNIQUE  STUDIES  OF  RURAL  AMERICA 
TOWN  AND  COUNTRY  SERIES  TWELVE  VOLUMES 

MADE   UNDER  THE  DIRECTION   OF 

Edmund  deS.  Brunner,  Ph.D. 

What  the  Protestant  Churches  Are  Doing  and  Can  Do 
for  Rural  America — The  Results  of  Twenty- 
Six  Intensive  County  Surveys 

Description  Publication  Date 

(i)     Church     and     Community    Survey    of 

Salem   County,   N.   J Ready 

(2)      Church     and    Community    Survey    of 

Pend  Oreille  County,  Washington..        Ready 
(^)      Church     and    Community    Survey    of 

Sedgwick    County,   Kansas Ready 

(4)  Religion  in  the  Old  and  Nevy  South..       About  Sept.  10 

(5)  The  Old  and  New  Immigrant  on  the 

Land,    as    seen    in    two    Wisconsin 
counties    , Ready 

(6)  Rural     Church    Life    in    the    Middle 

West   Ready 

(7)  The     Country     Church     in     Colonial 

Counties   Ready 

(8)  Irrigation    and    Religion,    a    study    of 

two   prosperous    California    counties        Ready 

(9)  The   Church  on    the    Changing  Fron- 

tier            Ready 

(10)  The  Rural   Church  Before   and   After 

the    War,    Comparative    Studies    of 

Two    Surveys About  Sept.  i 

(11)  The    Country    Church    in    Industrial 

Zones About  July  10 

(12)  The    Town    and    Country    Church   in 

the   United   States About  Nov.  30 

"They  are  fine  pieces  of  work  and  examples  of  what  we  need  to  have 

done  on  a  large  scale." — Dr.  Charles  A.  Ellwood,  Dept.  of  Sociology, 

University  of  Missouri. 

"/  am  heartily  appreciative  of  these  splendid  results/' — Rev.  Charles  S. 

Macfarland,  Genl.  Secy.,  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 

America. 

Published  by  GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY,  New  York 

FOR 

COMMITTEE  ON  SOCIAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  SURVEYS 


III    FIFTH   AVENUE,   NEW  YORK 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGiONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  \he  library 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


NON-R 


JUN 


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NEWABLE 


2  3 1995 


m 


0  4  200( 


MAY 


DUE  2  WKS  FFIOM  DATE  RECEIVED 
f.lAY3.i'00' 


SOUTHERN  BRANCH, 

UNIVERSITY  Q^  CALIF0RN1^ 

LIBRARY, 
COS  ANOCLES.  CALIF. 


